Zero
Chapter Six
That night, Scout dreamed.
The images were disjointed, a swirl of moments knitting together in her mind. First, she was six years old, watching a cat pick apart a dead bird with its claws on the sidewalk in front of her house. The birds' parents were squawking in a nest in a nearby tree.
"Why didn't they save it?" she asked.
Her father was standing next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Because they are afraid."
Then she was fully grown again, bent over a fair-haired boy in an alleyway. She was emaciated and rabid, wildness in her eyes. She put a blade against his throat.
There was madness in him. He shuddered and convulsed. His eyes darting back and forth, like a moth searching for a flame.
"Bleed, bleed," Scout hiccupped, pressing the blade into his throat. Blood came pouring out in waves. She smiled. Seeing him bleed was joyful. Oh, how she loved it. Hearing the dying gurgles in his throat was like music to her ears.
Make him suffer, make him die. Yes, yes, yes. Her knife plunged in and out of his chest. His blood ran over her fingers. It felt good, so good. To make someone suffer it was sweet.
The scene shifted again. She was lying on her back next to Dessie Thompson's pool. Sylar was bent over her, smirking. She could see words written all over his skin…no, she realized, they were names. Names of those he had killed.
"I just don't want you to drown," he said.
Her forehead burst into a fiery white pain, as her skull was torn apart.
Scout's eyes fluttered open. Her vision was consumed by the dark of her bedroom. Her heart was thundering rapidly in her chest, and heat was clinging to her body.
Her hands were balled around the bed sheets. She listened to her own breathing slow as the images of blood, fresh in her mind, played in her eyelids.
Her left hand instinctively ran up the sheets to her nightstand. She opened the drawer and withdrew a knife. It felt cool and comfortable in her hand. She thought of the sickening excitement that had pulsed through her when she was cutting Sylar. The brilliant crimson standing out against his skin, staining his shirt…she could do it over and over again. He would heal.
It took a moment before she caught her breath and sorted through her thoughts. She threw the sheets back, muttering a few indistinguishable words to herself before she realized something was wrong.
The bedroom was vacant of Riley's soft snoring.
"Riley?" Scout called out.
She heard nothing in response. She got to her feet and crossed the room, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. She reached his bed and put her hands down, finding nothing. He was gone.
Scout went into the kitchen. He wasn't in there, either. It wasn't like Riley to just leave in the middle of the night without telling Scout; they always told each other where they were going.
She tried to calm herself, taking a deep breath. She crossed the room to the entrance hatch and poked her head out. She couldn't hear anything but creaking metal. Her skin grew cold.
She crossed the room again, this time to the storage room door. She didn't want to face Sylar right then, thanks to both his attempt on her life earlier that day and his disturbing presence in her dream. She hoped he would be asleep.
"Riley?" Scout whispered into the room. She was met with nothing but silence.
She was about to close the door when she heard, "What's the matter? Lost your friend?" His voice was groggy, but not lacking in sarcasm.
Scout bristled. "Shut up."
"I heard him leave a couple hours ago," Sylar added, as if he didn't hear her.
Scout paused, then fully entered the room. "Did he say anything to you?" She asked, trying to mask her worried air. "Do you know anything else?"
He only shrugged.
She opened her mouth to berate him, but she heard the hatch open and someone drop in. She turned in the doorway, and saw Riley across the kitchen.
"Riley! Where the hell have you—"
His face was uncharacteristically ghostly. He was out of breath and looked tousled, like he had just been in a fight. He staggered over to Scout.
"Our location has been compromised," he said hoarsely. Scout's eyes widened. "We have to go. Now."
"How? I made sure Hollis—"
Riley grabbed her arms, his eyes darting back and forth frantically. "No time. We have to leave now."
Her chest heaved. She knew this day was inevitable, but she was none too happy that it had finally come.
"Gather our stocks and any food you can carry. I'll…" her eyes travelled back to Sylar. "Give him the antidote."
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Claire felt sick the second they landed back in the present. Whether it was from time-travelling or from just being there again, she couldn't be sure. She looked around at the room around them. It was a long office with lots of bookshelves, probably belonging to Nathan.
When she saw her two fathers waiting to receive them, she nearly doubled over.
Noah smiled for the first time in a very long while. He rushed forward and scooped Claire up in his arms. "Oh, Claire Bear. I've missed you."
"I missed you, too," Claire whispered back. The soft sting of tears poked at the corner of her eyes.
When he released her, she wasn't sure whether or not to hug Nathan as well. She bit her lip before uttering a quiet, "Hi."
Nathan nodded in acquiescence. "Hello, Claire." His eyes darted between her and Noah, and then to Peter.
"I thought Hiro said everyone else would be waiting here for us," Peter said.
"Well, that's not much of a 'hello', but I'll take what I can get," Nathan replied, half-smiling.
Peter smirked. "Haven't lost your charm, have you?"
"Never better. Nice to see you, Pete."
"Yeah, good to see you, too."
"Come on, everyone should be waiting in the lounge. We've fastened a kind of headquarters here. Everyone is currently living in this building so we can keep close ranks," Nathan explained, leading the party out of the office and into the hall.
"And a close eye," Noah added.
They reached the end of the hallway, where stood a set of double doors. Nathan pushed them open, and headed into the lounge.
Claire only recognized a handful of faces, and those she did recognized looked much older and more tired than they had before. Matt Parkman was playing scrabble with a fully-grown Molly Walker and Micah Sanders. She vaguely recognized a few other faces she couldn't quite place. There were only about twenty-five people in the room, sprawled across tables and chairs, chatting excitedly and demonstrating their abilities. Most of them looked quite young, though there were a few older figures that populated the room.
Her fathers had better have a hell of a good idea if they expected thirty people to be able to turn around the future of mankind.
"Alright, Nathan, you managed to gather us all here. Now, would you mind telling us what your great plan is?" Peter asked, crossing his arms. The room had fallen silent to observe the newcomers.
Nathan smiled. He was always happy to answer the doubts of his little brother. With a confidant smile he said, "All in due time, Peter. How about some lunch first?"
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Scout wasted no time plucking a syringe out of the medical supplies and filling it with the antidote to the tranquilizer. She scrambled over to Sylar.
"Listen to me, and listen well. Frankly, I don't give a shit what you do once you get your strength back, but I swear to God if you get in our way, we will kill you, rapid cellular regeneration or not." Scout jammed the syringe into Sylar's neck and punched down the plunger.
Sylar only watched her curiously. "Why give me my strength back at all?"
Scout hesitated. Why was she doing this? After all, when they came after her and Riley, wouldn't it be just as well for them to capture Sylar? By giving him his strength back, she was only allowing him to escape, and allowing him the opportunity to hunt them down again and kill them.
Scout thought about that figure bent over her at the pool. About his words from her dream. "I just don't want to you drown."
"They'll try to attack you, too, so it'll help us in the end if you finish one of them off," she answered, snarling.
Sylar raised an eyebrow.
"And if anyone gets to kill you, I want to be that person, not them," Scout added in a rush. She dropped the syringe into her pocket. "You should be back to normal in about five minutes."
She only hoped they had that long before the Finders came.
She had been acquainted with some other renegades like herself who had been caught by the Finders. Treacherous, wicked people who used their abilities to find people like Scout and kill them. Scout and Riley had evaded them before, and hoped they could again. But they weren't immortal, and who knew if their judgment day had come.
Scout rushed into the bedroom and dressed herself. She slipped out of her pajamas and into a pair of boots, tough jeans, and a blue jacket. She found a handgun and slipped it into her jacket pocket, and slipped a dagger into the other. She emptied the drawers of her nightstand, removing tiny vials from their stash they had collected from dealers.
Smash them, she told herself. As she stared at the glittering little vials clutched in her hands, she paused and bit her lip. She knew it would she had better destroy them. If they fell into the wrong hands, it could be catastrophic. But her eyes glossed over the vials, gleaming like diamonds in the light, she couldn't do it. They would fetch so much money. She wouldn't have to hunt for food and hide in an abandoned storage facility. No. She shook her head. She would keep them for leverage and research, she told herself. She grabbed a small bag and began dumping them inside. She pulled the drawer all the way out and let it clatter to the floor. Taped to the inside of the nightstand was the vial Scout had found strapped to the blond man. She stuck that one inside her pocket, not knowing what it was, but willing to bet it was powerful.
Scout slung the bag onto her shoulders, and burst into the kitchen. "Riley, are you—"
He was standing frozen in the center of the room, an eerie expression on his face. The usually cheerful light was gone from his eyes, replaced by trepidation.
"They're here," he croaked.
Scout's skin prickled as the sound of squelching metal rose to a feverish pitch. The entrance hatch folded in on itself before ripping from its hinges and flying into the air.
Scout pulled out her handgun and aimed it forward, poised to shoot whatever came through that hatch. Riley held his breath, holding a gun out in front of himself as well. Scout wouldn't go down without a fight, and she would bring the bastard with her if she went.
Unfortunately, it wasn't only one bastard. Three dark-clothed figures dropped down through the hatch: two males and one female. Each was pale and gaunt, with wicked light dancing behind their smiles. The male in front, who was obviously the leader, was the most sinister-looking. His wolfish lips pulled back into a bared smile.
Scout would especially enjoy watching him bleed.
She fired a warning shot at the second male.
But the bullet crumpled into itself, falling like a wadded gum wrapper onto the ground. The Wolf was holding out a hand, manipulating the metal. He turned to Scout and flexed his fingers. The handgun tore apart in her hands.
The sheer amount of metal materials in their home absently ran through Scout's mind. With this kind of power against them, they were living inside their death. They had to take them down quick.
Riley made his move, and everything flew into motion.
He went lunging into the wall, phasing right through it. The female leapt at him, trying to grab his clothes before he disappeared. A small ball of fire appeared in her hand, and she shot it at him right as he slipped through. It singed the shoulder of his shirt.
The Wolf manipulated the kitchen table, shaping it into a jagged cone before launching it at Scout. The second male only stood there, watching with calm, collected eyes. Scout teleported before the table could hit her.
She reappeared behind The Wolf and jumped onto his back, locking her arms tightly around his throat. Sputtering and coughing, he fell to the floor. Scout's eyes grew wide as she smiled, the awareness of the blade in her jacket pocket becoming more and more conscious all the while.
Riley emerged from the wall, slamming into the fire-bender with his entire weight. They crashed to the ground. Gathering a rope he had grabbed from the storage room in his hands, he slipped a noose around her neck and pulled.
The second male glanced at Riley and the female. He stepped over to The Wolf and his attacker, and calmly put one hand on Scout's cheek.
Scout's body suddenly screamed in pain. A shock unlike anything she had ever felt before poured through her. It was like being skinned alive, but being able to watch all of it, and feel every piece of flesh ripped from its place. She wished for death. Anything. She had to have release.
Riley saw her distress. He pressed his fingers to the female's temple, and she fell unconscious. Leaping up, he ran over and tackled the second male who was still touching Scout. As they flew across the room, Riley let him slam into the wall, but phased through it himself.
"Don't let him touch your temples!" The Wolf snarled, glancing at the unconscious female. The second male was still recollecting himself, slowly getting to his feet.
Scout's mind was fuzzy. Fight, a small voice inside her lobbied. But a large part of her wanted to die. She never, ever wanted to feel something like what she had just gone through again.
Make him pay. The voice said. Kill him. Make him bleed.
Her eyes came into focus just in time to teleport before the Wolf brought a blunt pipe down onto her skull. She reappeared next to the female, who was just regaining consciousness. Scout picked up the rope where Riley had dropped it. Where was he? She thought in a panic. She lifted the woman up to her knees by the rope around her neck, and stooped behind her.
"Take one more step, and she dies," Scout hissed. Her fingers gripped the rope hungrily. She ached to kill someone, to watch the light leave their eyes. She wanted it to be the Wolf, but if she had to settle for this girl, so be it. Her teeth were bared.
The Wolf pulled out a pistol, and shot the female in the neck. She slumped in Scout's grip.
"Son of a bitch," she growled. She braced herself to take on the two Finders, but an arm reached out from the wall behind her and pulled her through.
Scout landed in the storage room, on top of Riley.
"Why in the flying hell did you leave me in there alone?" Scout shouted, pinning Riley down. Her fingernails dug into his skin through his shirt.
"Calm down! I have an idea." Riley thrust an object into Scout's hands.
She scoffed, her mind still reeling. "Lighter fluid?"
"Yes, Scout! Now just start pouring in before they break down the door."
Scout glanced to the door, where she saw what Riley had spent the past moments doing. Nearly everything in the room was shoved up against the door, providing a significant blockade between them and their enemies.
Scout noticed Sylar for the first time, too. He was standing, with a curious look on his face, as if he was trying to understand a difficult problem.
"What kind of powers do they have?" He asked, an intense interest in his voice.
Scout was too busy spreading lighter fluid around the room to answer. Riley, who was listening intently to what was going on outside the room, said, "You'll see soon enough."
The metal hinges on the door splintered and crumbled to the floor. The doorknob shriveled and fell out of its spot, leaving a hole. Scout heard the cruel laugh of the Wolf as he peered through the hole.
The shelves pressed up against the door all began to creak and twist. The lighter fluid fell out of Scout's hands as she watched the curious display. Then, they shattered into a million tiny fragments. The small, sparkling slivers hung in the air as the Wolf knocked down the door and entered the room. He walked straight through the shards hanging in the air, creating a tunnel. The jagged pieces that swept past his face didn't even scratch him.
He smiled, and the shards shot out in all directions. Sylar simply stopped the shards about to him in, the curiosity in his eyes turning to fascination. Scout teleported, but not before her heart skipped a beat. Riley was screaming.
As she reappeared, she ran to her friend, who was clawing at his face. The blood seeping from his eyes and skin made her mind tingle.
Her heart slowed as she turned back to the Wolf and the second man. With Riley's screams behind her, she stared straight into the deviled eyes of the Wolf.
"You manipulated that metal so easily…" Sylar mused, an eager smile on his face. "I'd like to know how that feels."
The Wolf glanced at the second man, and nodded. The second man approached Sylar.
"And what can you do?" Sylar asked.
"Let me show you," the second man smirked, reaching out. But his body stiffened in place.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Sylar said, grinning at the man. "I hope you don't take it personally, but I'll have to be showing you my power first." He lifted an arm and drew his finger in a straight, concise line. A burst of red ripped across the second man's forehead, following the draw of Sylar's finger.
He fell to the ground, bleeding from his head. The Wolf's eyes widened and betrayed a flicker of fear only for a moment. Scout watched, mesmerized. The blood was oozing freely from the man's head, trickling all over the floor. It was soaking into his clothes, and mixing with the lighter fluid. A solid pit of admiration for the serial killer's talent kneaded itself into her stomach. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the image of so much bleeding from so little effort.
Sylar bent down next to the fallen man to finish his work. He was entranced, tantalized by the idea of solving the mysterious power. The Wolf was laughing again, and Riley was still crying out in agony. Scout returned her eyes to the Wolf. She lunged for him, throwing her weight against his middle.
He didn't even struggle as she withdrew her knife and pressed it against his throat. He only laughed darkly, his mouth twisted. Scout knew he could crumple the knife easily, but she wasn't going to wait around to find out why he hadn't done so yet. She pierced his skin. The carmine liquid swelled around her blade.
He was still laughing. "It won't be long before you turn," he cackled.
Scout growled. "Shut up."
"I'll see you in hell."
She roared and tucked her blade underneath his chin. She stabbed it upward through his jaw, silencing him.
A fever settled over Scout as she watched crimson blood spill out of the wound. She touched the tips of her fingers to it as it ran down his throat, coating his neck and the ground below him. A surge pushed through her, and she forced the blade between his lips. Two swift cuts, and his face was forever a wolfish grin.
Her feverish excitement heightened as blood spilled across his cheeks. She wanted to make him bleed more. She thought of her first kill, a fair-haired boy in an alleyway. He'd bled well. She wanted the Wolf to bleed as much as he had. She'd paint the room with him. Her eyes grew wide in delight.
As she pushed her knife into his body again, she was completely oblivious to Sylar watching her. The blood of the second man was drying on his hands, and he had momentarily forgotten about the new ability he had acquired. Curiosity had filled his eyes again now.
"Scout!" Riley cried out. She jerked her head up, and met Sylar's eyes across her victim's body. The intense fascination in his eyes perturbed her. She glared back, unrelenting.
Riley called out again, and this time, Scout came to him. "Don't worry, Riley. I'll get us out of here." As she gathered him up in her arms, she never broke eye contact with Sylar.
"Start the fire," Riley muttered. "Burn everything."
Scout nodded. She scrambled to some nearby supplies and found a set of matches. With one arm around Riley, she lit a match, dropped it, and teleported.
The last thing she saw before she vanished was Sylar's curious and fascinated eyes still watching her.
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A/N: Well that was fun. Sorry for the poorly constructed battle. I'm awful at fight scenes. I rather enjoyed revealing more of Scout's character that was only hinted at in earlier chapters. Yes, the last part was actually very fun to write. :P I also listened to a LOT of Stephen Sondheim music while writing that part. You might be able to tell (wolf, anyone?). This is mostly completely rewritten from my first draft of chapter six. The only part I didn't change was the scene in the middle with Nathan, Claire, and company. Scout's dream was ENTIRELY different, and while in the first draft there was still a battle scene, it ended VERY differently and much more craptastically, in my honest opinion. I am MUCH happier with how this turned out the second time around.
Anyway, on to the thanks! Thanks to HermioneandMarcus, Shadeslayer390, Neurotic-Isopod, KaraxLavi13, night-star-93, Nicco1395, and wsand. Thank you all SO MUCH for reviewing! I appreciate and take into consideration every comment I receive. Anything you say means a ton, and I'm glad I can count on you regulars for reviews. :) I hope I'm making you guys happy with how this story is going!
Okay, that's all. Thanks for reading! See you next chapter. And please remember to review! :D