Chapter 10: Infiltrations

Claire tried her hardest to wait patiently for a sound, a flash, any indication at all that her plan was working. She had no doubt that Gabriel would be able to take the other Claire, after all; it wasn't as if their little visit was scheduled or anything. They had power, but more importantly; they had the element of surprise. It would all be left up to her once she got inside; she had to convince everyone, people she had not even had the chance to meet yet, that she was this other Claire; it was going to be one hell of a ride.

That's when she heard it. The faint sound of a muffled alarms system escaped from inside the walls. A person walking by wouldn't have noticed anything was awry; these people planned out the defense of their headquarters with impeccable care and attention to detail. Claire assumed that it had to be important; whatever they were doing in there. Either that or they were fearful of something, maybe someone on the outside.

She couldn't wait any longer. The anxiety bubbled up inside of her like a bottle of champagne; Claire took off in flight toward the back door. She wasn't surprised to see that it was unlocked. This organization surely had their reasons for the allowance of such a detrimental mistake, to enable to hasty escape she was sure. When her hand was on the door, it flew open and she found herself face to face with yet another woman she was not at all familiar with.

"Claire," the small blonde girl breathed. Claire thought she looked a bit like Elle, but her hair was nearly white, and her features considerably more pointed. The girl looked sprightly and quick, but her eyes held fear. "What are you doing out here? He's here," she explained as if the disruption had been long since anticipated.

"I know," Claire lied. "Get of here," she growled in her most authoritative voice and unsheathed her Eagle. "I'll take care of it."

"Be caref—" the girl started, but shook off her warning with a nervous laugh. "Never mind," she muttered and in the next moment disappeared leaving only a trail of wind behind her.

"A speedster," Claire noted to herself. She wondered what other abilities people had besides the ones she was already aware of. Time travel, mind reading, superhuman speed, rapid regeneration; the world was evolving around her even in that very second, and it was a task to keep up; still things had to be put into play, she supposed. Claire took a deep breath and opened the door the rest of the way. The building was entirely deserted.

Claire gripped her gun in a tight and defensive manner. She sincerely hoped that she didn't look as frightened as she felt. Claire had no idea what she was getting herself into. In front of her there was a staircase, and a long hallway. "Left or right?" she asked herself doubtfully but instinctively headed for the left. That was the direction Gabriel had left to; it was only natural that it should be the way she went.

Just as she cautiously began to edge toward the thick industrial set of double doors, they flew open and

Claire felt something heavy plow into her as she was knocked down to the hard floor beneath. All the air was expelled from her lungs when she landed and she struggled to regain her breath.

She instinctively threw the heavy object off of her with a strained gasp and whirled around to investigate the disturbance.

Once again her breath was caught in her chest as she gazed down at the very image of herself.

"You," the other Claire gritted through her teeth. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just being me," the younger Claire supplied determinedly and cracked her gun across the side of the girl's face, hard enough to render her unconscious.

Claire flipped her hair over her shoulder to look questioningly at Gabriel, who had soon followed them through the doors. His eyes were filled with unmasked concern, as if to ask her "are you ok?"

"Get her out of here before she wakes up," Claire prompted and dismissed his unspoken inquiry.

Gabriel reluctantly did as she said. It was obvious to Claire that he had seen something in her face that he didn't like. She felt kind of bad snapping commands at him like that, but what did it really matter anyway? He didn't love her, and he most certainly didn't like her; nothing was going to change in this time. Gabriel was hardly unnerved upon discovering the second portion of her plan, the part that would ensure the other Claire could never find them. Claire had some moral dilemmas about killing her, but not about burying her alive. It seemed right to her.

To Claire, her other self was like a bad personality trait, or a bothersome facial feature; she was something that should be buried and hidden so that the world wouldn't see. That was exactly what she intended to do. To tell the truth, Claire wasn't entirely convinced that Gabriel would go through the trouble of burying her after all, at least not in one piece. Claire wasn't sure how much contempt he had for the girl, nor what kind of history they had together. She longed to ask him about it, but it wasn't her place; what was she to him?

"Claire!" another unfamiliar man's voice took her from her thoughts.

Claire immediately stood up and turned around to face the person speaking, it took not a moment for her to regain her steely composure—not that it was hard. It seemed everyday of her life since she had met Gabriel introduced her to a new kind of pain, and here she thought she was done with all of that. She chose the route of not saying anything in return to this person. Gabriel had tried to fill her in as best as he could, but he didn't know everything about the operations here. Was she the boss? It was starting to seem so. Maybe she could learn a little bit about it from this guy.

"The formula is secure," he seemed to sigh in relief at his own words as he handed her a heavy metal suitcase.

Claire grew wide-eyed as it settled into her hands. Was this really it? Was this the formula that Dr. Suresh had been working so hard to perfect when he had strapped her down to that table? He had actually tried to take the catalyst from her body. Could he be working for these people? And if that was the case, then why was she even associating with them after what they had done? Stranger yet, she seemed to have quite a bit of power among the people who she had met so far. There were so many questions, and she had no idea how to answer any of them.

Claire grasped at her thought processes, frantically searching for something that could tell her what to say, but she mostly came up blank.

"Is that all?" she ended up asking less severely than she intended.

"Claire?" The man checked with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that all?" Claire repeated slowly and intentionally, her eyes were two hard stones.

"Yes," he answered somewhat ashamedly and dismissed himself.

"And what of my son?" Claire pressed, hoping she wasn't crossing a line somewhere, but knowing she could handle the problem if she needed.

"He's still living at his apartment in New York. I contacted the president's people as soon as I was able," the man explained hastily. Claire wondered what the president had to do with any of this, a ridiculous idea struck her, but she soon dismissed it. It was possible that her real father had finally become president. She would have to do a little bit of research if she was going to get along okay in this time.

"And you don't think Sylar will be going after him?" Claire asked the man as if he were completely incompetent.

"I—I don't understand," he said slowly with a partially raised eyebrow.

"Sylar seems to have acquired the ability to read minds. He could have picked the information up from any one of you," she shoved her gun back into the holster. "I'll need a flight to New York as soon as possible. I have some business I need to clear up with my son."

"Right. I"ll put Kate on it right away," he mumbled suspiciously. "But Claire," his voice stopped her from her retreat. "Don't you think we should handle the Sylar situation first?"

"I already took care of it. He won't be coming back," she swore.

"Took care of it," he beckoned her to continue.

"Are you saying you don't trust me?" she growled.

"No. No not at all. Good. I'll go get Kate," he sped away, leaving a very relieved Claire behind him.

Now to find her office.

As soon as she found her self settled in her own private quarters, Claire pulled up the number Gabriel had given her on her cell phone. He answered on the first ring, clearly waiting for her to contact him.

"Claire," he acknowledged her without saying hello. "You're in."

"No hi, how are you?" Claire responded sarcastically.

"Claire this is serious. What happened?"

"Well I have his location—and I also have a suitcase. A man gave it to me. He said "The formula is secure… I don't think he bought my act."

"What did he look like?"

"He was kind of a tall skinny guy with dark skin, big dark eyes, and dark dreads."

"I see. That would be Knox then. I want you to get out of there before you run into him again. Knox gains strength with other people's fear, and I think it's quite clear that you're scared."

"I'm not scared," Claire protested feebly.

"I'll pick you up in the parking lot across the street okay?"

There was only one car in the parking lot when Claire arrived at her and Gabriel's meeting spot. It wasn't very hard to find Gabriel; he had placed himself atop the trunk of his car. She fought back a smile. Clearly Gabriel wasn't scared of the people who had fled from that building. He was in and then out in only a matter of minutes, and seemingly unscathed. Not that she would know. Claire gave herself a bit of credit. Her ability was quite possibly the most useful he would ever acquire.

Gabriel replanted his feet on the ground as she approached and got into the front seat of the car without a word. Claire got the feeling that he was disappointed in her, and with good reason; Claire couldn't even convince them that she was herself a few years down the road. She resolved to wait for him to say something, but the silence was awkward and heavy between them.

"So where's future Claire?" she asked curiously, and slumped against the armrest on her door when he didn't answer; they weren't very comfortable. "This is a different car than the one we came in," she observed aloud.

"Trunk space," he replied simply.

"Ohhhh…" she shifted her eyes to the side. That wasn't creepy at all. "And I suppose you just had this one lying around?" she joked.

"Don't be absurd. I picked it up just a few blocks from here. The older models don't have emergency release systems in the trunks. It's a handy feature if you don't have time to tie someone up."

"I thought you had a new system of acquiring abilities," Claire frowned at him. She was beginning to like this Gabriel less with every minute they spent together. He was an arrogant, self-important bastard.

"I do," he refused to give her any further information.

"So where are we going?"

"About 20 miles into the middle of nowhere," he smiled to himself. Once again with the creepiness.

Claire grimaced when Gabriel opened the trunk of the car to reveal a very unruffled and pissed off looking future Claire. She really thought the dark look gave her an edge, or maybe it was just that this Claire was kind of scary.

Gabriel unceremoniously scooped her out of the trunk. She struggled like the dickens too, trying to squirm out of his grasp, but everyone present knew that he was much more able-bodied than he looked at first glance. The khakis did nothing to help his cause.

"I found our son Claire dear," he told her, "all the while he's been in New York then?"

"Like I'd tell you," the struggling girl snarled at him in return.

"You don't have to. I can just take it from your head." She actually looked impressed for a moment, but immediately dismissed the notion.

"You know your problem Sylar?"

"My name is Gabriel," he seethed, but Claire blatantly ignored his interruption.

"Your emotions make you weak. Everyone else thinks you're insane, but we know that's not true, don't we?" she reached up to stroke his face in a mockery of seduction. Disgusted Gabriel slapped her hand away, upon which she gave a dark laugh. "So sensitive," she crooned.

Gabriel wore a scowl as he wrapped a bit of thick black cord around her wrists.

"Good," he growled. "I want to relish the feeling I get when I kill you," his tone was passionate yet far away as he pulled the cord tighter than was absolutely necessary just so he could see the burns he inflicted on her wrists fade and disappear. It was clear with his every move that he bore nothing but ill will against the girl at his mercy.

If you looked close enough into the girl's eyes (and Claire did), you could almost see a light ting of sadness behind the two cold spheres; they were the only indicator left of her humanity. That was until she abruptly lurched forward. Unfortunately for her, with her hands tied behind her back, her actions were of no use. Claire settled for an insolent sneer and a hearty display of struggle.

Instead of waiting for her to cooperate, Gabriel all of the patience he had been fighting to maintain and heaved himself up from the ground, taking tied up future Claire in his arms with him; only to toss her in the six foot deep hole he had dug for her grave. She landed with a thud and a distinct "oomph," as the air fought its way out of her lungs. Her labored pants of struggle turned into maniacal laughter, and Claire fought to take a look inside and see what the commotion was all about; she couldn't bear to see herself bound and about to be buried like that though. To make matters worse; it was the man she loved holding the shovel.

Gabriel scooped up a large pile of dirt and tossed it into the hole. The laughter stopped, but the other Claire made a weak attempt to put up a front.

"Oh come on Gabriel," she groaned. "We both know you won't actually do it. You love me," she drew out mockingly.

At that Gabriel angrily threw aside the shovel and stood at the very edge of the pit.

"You think so?" he patronized her and with an almost imperceptible flick of his index and middle fingers, sent the rest of the dirt he had dug up rushing like water back into the hole. When her choking sounds were completely muffled by the six feet of matter between them, Gabriel stood over her grave. "Until death do us part," he snarled and kicked at the freshly disturbed earth underneath him. "How long do you think you can live without air?" he screamed at the ground.

"Gabriel," Claire called him back to attention. "Did it never occur to you that we need her?"

"We don't need her," Gabriel dismissed her concern directly.

"So how else are we going to infiltrate their headquarters? If you have any ideas, that'd be great."

"Please Claire," he muttered condescendingly.

"Please Claire?" she returned angrily. "You know what Gabriel? I'm doing this to help you."

"You do everything for yourself Claire. We both know that much. You've seen what you could become after so little time."

"So little time? It's been years Gabriel."

"I'm not talking about her Claire. I'm talking about you. Look at you. It didn't take very much for you to willingly jump into that role did it?"

"You're telling me that there's something wrong with me?" she spat angrily. "You!" she scowled, "and when exactly where you planning on telling me how the world got this way?"

For the first time since they had met, it seemed that Gabriel was at a loss for words. He gaped at her. "I..."

"You what? Didn't think it was important. What happened? You owe me that much. I just stood by and watched you bury me—I mean her…"

"You're really losing it aren't you?"

"Well what do you think Gabriel? I'm stuck in this completely different world, and I have no idea what the hell is going on. No one will tell me! Not even you; the man who I have trusted more than anyone in my life!"

"Maybe that was your mistake. I didn't ask for your trust."

That was too much for Claire. She stalked up to the man in front of her and threw her fist into his face.

"Damn it Claire!" He clutched his face and grunted with the pain. "Do you want to talk about this or do you want to break my nose again."

"Like you didn't deserve it!" she shrieked. "And you actually want to talk about it now?"

"Yes I would like to talk about it."

"Well you can go to hell. I want to go home."

"Home where? If you haven't noticed," he gestured to the world around him. "You're stuck here baby girl."

"Don't call me that," Claire growled. "Don't ever speak to me again," she turned on her heel and began to stomp off, but her legs locked up and she found herself completely immobile.

"I thought you wanted to talk Claire."

"Let me go," she snapped. Her pulse began to quicken; she didn't like this one bit.

"I can't do that," he refused to acknowledge her further pleas as he grabbed the remaining bit of cord and tied her up as well. He took a few steps back and cocked his head to the side, gazing at her in a strange way; he seemed almost appreciative of the position she was in—like someone admiring a fine painting in a museum.

"Is this really necessary?" Claire asked in annoyance. "It's not like I can go anywhere if you don't want me to." When he didn't respond she continued, "We're in the middle of the desert!"

"It's nice isn't it?" he inhaled deeply.

"Ummm… if by nice you mean dirty and hot."

"Not that I don't appreciate what you have on your mind, but that will have to wait. I need a moment to appreciate this."

"Gabriel?"

"Oh come now Claire. You didn't really want him around anyway."

"Sylar?" she couldn't help but smile. The tables most certainly had turned.

"Atta girl."

"Well… would you mind untying me? These ropes are really uncomfortable."

"No. Those were my idea." The reality donned on her. Once again she was his prisoner, and this time there was nowhere and no way to run. Sylar looked at her strangely again and opened his mouth a few times as if he were preparing to say something important, but had no idea how to word it. "I don't like your hair," he finally settled on.

"Oh," Claire blushed self-consciously. "Neither do I."

"Right… this mind reading thing is going to take some getting used to. I've been seeing the world in third person; trapped in his mind like that… he's not very creative."

"Don't say that," Claire replied sadly.

"Are you still hung up on him?" Sylar frowned. "He lies to you," he hummed and sunk down to her level to hold her bound hands in his lap; as if he actually thought it were a romantic gesture. "I would never lie to you Claire."

"But you'll tie me up and kidnap me. How long has it been you anyway?"

"You hit me," Gabriel said as if it were obvious.

"Oh."

"So you want to know how the world got this way huh? Well look to that father of yours."

"My dad?"

"Listen. Your father," he articulated. "The former senator of New York."

"What happened?" Claire asked in wonder.

"He became president."

"And?"

"And he held a press conference. It was one of the first things he ever did. Told everyone about us, abilities, specials, whatever you want to call this. The world didn't take too kindly to us."

"So what happened then?" this was an absolute nightmare of a future. If she ever got back, she had to make sure that never happened.

"Remember that scientist that tried to use your blood and isolate the catalyst? He was trying to find a way to give everyone abilities, or take them away. They aren't mutually exclusive. He succeeded in the first."

"What?" Claire gasped, "but how? Peter—" she was cut off mid sentence.

"Peter saved you the first time, but he wasn't around when your father willingly handed you over to Pinehearst. He wanted to make the world happy, make everyone equal."

"You're kidding right? They don't all really have abilities!"

"No they don't. The formula exists, but it hasn't been used for anything other than to take away those… side-effects of his."

"So what's the problem?"

"It's a power-struggle. As soon as the world found out about us; they became jealous. The president ended up constructing his own team of highly skilled and trained soldiers to hunt us down and either kill us or imprison us; the suits. We're menaces to society."

"Why wouldn't Gabriel have told me about this?"

"And risk putting you through a mental breakdown while he needed you to go fetch his son for him?"

"Right," claire disregarded his attempt to raise the level of contempt she currently held for Gabriel, but even when he did have alternate motives; he always told her the truth. "Can I trust you?" Claire suddenly asked him.

"What do you think?" he asked, and then as an afterthought added, "if you say yes I'll untie you."

"Well yes then."

"Are you saying yes just because I told you that?" he teased as he untied her feet first.

"What do you think?" she asked in succession as he finished removing the bonds from her hands.

"I think I've missed you, and it's been a long time," Sylar murmured against her lips.

Tbc.