Six minutes ago…

"Tess! Tess, please open the door. I need to speak to you."

The clone known as Gabriel Gray was knocking on the door of Tess Mercer's apartment.

"Gabriel, when I said I couldn't be around you for a while, that meant at least a day."

Gabriel, not in the mood for argument, used his TK to unlock and open the door.

"What do you think you're-"

"It's Sylar. He's coming for you, or he will be anyway."

"Why would he do that? I don't have any power for him to take."

"But you're a loose end. He'll want to take Lex's place and you're the only person that works for him that'll know he's not Lex."

"You're right. I should've thought of that. What do you want to do?"

"Wait for him. He'll be here soon and when he gets here, Clark and I will be ready for him."

As if hearing his name was his cue, Clark came from around the corner and walked into the apartment.

"Once Sylar tries something, Gabriel and I will step in. Hopefully, we can stop him tonight before he gets a chance to kill anyone else."

"Alright. You two can hide in my bedroom. Though I don't see what a farm boy can do against someone like Sylar."

Gabriel and Clark both looked at each other, grinned, and walked into Tess's room.

Now…

Gabriel, who we now know is Sylar, has Tess telekinetically pinned against her refrigerator. Before Tess could even call for help, Gabriel and Clark had already stepped into the kitchen.

"Let her go, Sylar."

"Well, well, if it isn't my better half? How are you doing, brother?"

"Don't call me that."

"Well we are brothers, aren't we? That's how I knew how to dress. We're wearing the same outfit. We must have some sort of mental connection to each other. Now be a good brother and let me kill your girlfriend. Afterwards we can play catch."

Gabriel charged at him, but Sylar stopped him with TK and threw him to the end of Tess's living room. Deciding he needed to intervene, Clark used his super speed to appear behind Sylar and then tossed him through a wall into Tess's bathroom. The break in Sylar's concentration caused him to drop Tess. Clark walked to her to make sure she was okay.

"Clark, what did you just do?"

To avoid answering questions he couldn't, he tapped her on the head with an open palm, causing her to go unconscious.

"Give up, Sylar. There's no reason for more people to have to be hurt."

"You're right. I've been on edge lately. Maybe I just need to chill out. Why don't you join me?"

Sylar lifted his hands into the air and fired a blast of ice from them. To counter his attack, Clark fired a blast of heat vision from his eyes. They canceled each other out, creating steam.

"So that's speed, strength, and some kind of laser vision. How is it that you have three different abilities? I have to find out."

Using his TK, Sylar grabbed Clark and placed him against the wall behind him. He became more excited about this kill than he had since he first tried to kill Peter Petrelli. This guy, Clark, from what he had heard, had at least three different powers, if not more. Sylar was crushed when he realized that no matter how hard he concentrated, he could not cut open Clark's head.

"You're invulnerable, too? What are you? An empath, perhaps?"

"I'll just say I'm not what you think. Do it, Gabriel."

Sylar turned and saw shards of glass flying at him. Sylar stopped them and sent them right back at Gabriel. He was able to stop most of them, but one hit him in his left shoulder and he cried out in pain. Feeling that it was in his best interest to retreat, Sylar used his TK to send as many objects at Gabriel and Clark as he could. Furniture, tables, paintings, pots, pans, silverware, nothing was off limits. When Clark had finally gotten everything off him, he ran into the hallway to chase after Sylar, but he was nowhere to be seen. Seeing the seriousness of Gabriel's wounds, Clark called Chloe, who was waiting in her car outside, and told her to come up to the apartment and heal their friend. After Gabriel became good as new, he expressed disappointment in himself.

"Well I was pretty much useless here. It's obvious that Sylar has much better control of his TK than I do, not to mention all of the other abilities he has. I'm sorry I wasn't more help, Clark."

"Don't be down on yourself. Without you, Tess would be dead right now. Sylar was more than any of us expected. I think it'd be best if we call it a night and start looking for Sylar again in the morning. Do you have some place to stay, Gabriel?"

"Don't worry about me. I think I'll stay here and help Tess clean this place up. I'll sleep on whatever's left of her couch."

Clark and Chloe said there goodbyes and went back to Chloe's car. It occurred to Clark may not want to drive home alone with Sylar out there, so he volunteered to ride home with her. During the drive, they talked about everything that had gone on that day.

"So let me get this straight, in one day we find out that Peter is destined to die, meet not one, but two clones of a deceased super psycho, watch Peter almost become an atomic bomb, then disappear and see Lex Luthor with his head cut off. Kinda makes you wonder what'll happen tomorrow, right?"

Clark just looked at her. He was not laughing.

"Sorry. I know Lex was your friend at one point. I didn't mean to make light of what happened to him. But you know by now that humor is my defense mechanism."

"After all we've been through today you have a right to deal with it however you want. I guess a part of me did hope that one day Lex and I could work out our differences and be friends again. But he was too far down the road he was on. What about you? Are you still worried about Peter?"

"A little, but I know you were right. He'll be back when he's supposed to be. I just hope that's soon."

"My mom is supposed to be coming home tomorrow. I know it's not the best time, but if you wanted to come by and say hello before we start looking for Sylar tomorrow, I know she'd appreciate it."

"Of course, Clark. I've missed your mom. Is 11:00 good?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll have her make us some brunch. She's supposed to be bringing me some outfit. She said I should wear it when I'm out saving people."

"Oh boy. Now this I've gotta see."