ANGELA PETRELLI & MR. OKENBERG

LONDON

"I just don't think it's wise to let him out yet."

"Angela, we both know that he can't stay locked away forever. He's one of our greatest assets." Mr. Okenberg followed Angela down the long corridor leading to the rows of cells they had fixed up for anyone needing to be detained. "I understand that he upset you when he failed to keep Claire away from Nathan, but sometimes you have to let go."

Angela habitually ran her manicured hand over her up-do, unconsciously smoothing her hair down to perfection. "Of course," she answered at last.

They passed three doors before arriving at the one that they wanted. Mr. Okenberg typed in the access code to the electronic keypad next to the door and they waited as the code was accepted and then the lock clicked, admitting them into the holding cell.

"Bonjour," Angela greeted the Haitian as though they were meeting at a party.

He turned his dark eyes up towards her, but didn't return the greeting.

"Now, now, no need to sulk." Mr. Okenberg took charge of the situation. "We're here to let you out!"

The Haitian looked skeptical, as though wondering what sort of trick they were playing on him now.

"He's not lying to you," Angela confirmed. "You've been here long enough. I'm sure you don't need any more time to learn your lesson."

He shook his head.

"Good, then come on," Mr. Okenberg held his hand out to help the Haitian stand. "I can imagine how bored you have been these past couple weeks."

The Haitian nodded.

"Well, that's about to change! Sasha has found you some new recruits to bring in, so you'll be leaving tonight." Mr. Okenberg told him, not paying attention to the frown on the Haitian's face. "Now, technically you should have a partner—you know the policy—but at this moment we're a little short on people, so you'll be going alone."

"I expect we can count on you not to fail this time." Angela spoke up.

The Haitian glanced at her and nodded again.

"Good," Mr. Okenberg handed the Haitian a folder containing his flight information. "You're heading to Seattle. His name is Michael Monroe."

The Haitian took the folder obediently.

"All right, off you go." Mr. Okenberg led the way to the door and then sent the Haitian in a different direction. "We'll be waiting for you to call when you have him."

Angela watched the Haitian until he was far enough away not to overhear. "What do you think Dr. Suresh will do when he learns that we have taken Mr. Monroe?"

"Honestly?" Mr. Okenberg shook his head. "I don't really care. He'll do his job if he wants to keep it."

"Of course," Angela felt the same way, but she didn't tend to express her opinion as much as Mr. Okenberg did. Angela had a different policy; she wanted people to trust her so that she would be better able to twist them into whatever scheme she needed them for. "Have you heard anything more from Jaden lately?"

"I have heard from Sasha, who has been in contact with Jaden, of course. He is making process, supposedly. Your granddaughter has fallen for him completely. They've been going out nearly every night. Pretty soon she'll willingly choose him over Peter and then Jaden will bring her in."

"Good," Angela decided. "The sooner the better."

"Is there a reason you're in such a rush?"

Angela shook her head. "I'm eager to move onto the next phase of our plan and in order for that to happen we need Claire."

"Of course," Mr. Okenberg agreed. "We'll have her here soon." He paused. "If what Jaden has told me of Claire is true, then I don't expect her to be easy to convince. She's supposedly a very well behaved girl, with a lot of stubborn ideas. What makes you think she'll help us?"

"Don't worry about the details," Angela told him. "Just get her here. I'll make sure she cooperates. Trust me, I can be very convincing. Once I'm done with her, Claire won't be able to resist."

CLAIRE

NEW YORK

"Is Jaden picking you up after school today?" Jenny asked Claire as the girls unloaded they retrieved their gym bags from the lockers after practice.

"No actually, he's not today." Claire told her as she zipped a sweater up over her cheer uniform top.

"Oh? That's strange."

"Why?"

"He's picked you up from school every day for the past two weeks."

"That's not true!" Claire protested, but mentally she was trying to recall the last fourteen school days, wondering if it was true or not.

Jenny was laughing. "Claire, you don't have to defend yourself. You know I'm totally jealous! He's a super hot guy in his twenties! God, it's totally unfair." She reapplied her lipstick using the magnetic mirror stuck to the inside of her locker.

"Yea, I guess I am pretty lucky," Claire agreed. "But anyway, Jaden's got an afternoon shift at the hospital, so I'm not going to see him until later tonight."

"Perfect, then you have time to come shopping with me!"

"Shopping?" Claire hesitated. She had had other plans for herself—Peter was waiting.

"Yea, I have this party thing next weekend—it's at my brother's loft in Greenwich Village. He's a college guy…oh my god you should totally come!" She giggled. "I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier! You could even bring Jaden if you want."

Claire debated. A party sounded fun—normal. And going with Jaden seemed even better. It's what people were supposed to do in high school, right? Sneak off to college parties and have a good time…but Peter would never approve. It's not like he's the boss of me or something…Claire hated how much she cared about what Peter thought of her and her behavior. Truthfully, she cared more about what he thought than anyone else.

"So, shopping?" Jenny asked again as she shut the locker and slipped her gym bag over her shoulder. "I need to find the perfect little dress—preferably something in red. I hear college guys like red; it's sexy."

"Sexy?" Claire thought of her cheerleading outfit from her old school in Odessa and compared it with the black and green one she was wearing now. Did guys think I was sexy in that one? She shook her head, not much caring for the thoughts she was having. It didn't matter what guys thought of her back then, all that mattered was Jaden—here and now. "I'll talk to Jaden and see if he wants to go to the party, but I can't go shopping. I've got some things to do."

"Fine, abandon me…" Jenny huffed and smacked her lips in a glossy kiss goodbye to Claire. "See you on Monday!"

"Yea, see you!" Claire waved and headed in the other direction.

Her school was a reasonable walking distance from Peter's place, but today had surprised her with a slight drizzle, and she was starting to wish she had brought along money for a cab. She lingered just outside the front door of the school, embracing her final few moments beneath the short roof that was protecting her from the rain, before she would have to descend the steps and experience the downpour, wearing only her cheer uniform and a sweater. For a moment she considered calling Peter to come and pick her up, but he had actually started job-hunting today and she didn't want to interrupt him if he was busy.

"Why didn't I bring an umbrella?" She sighed and watched the rain streak down from the sky, splashing onto the cement, creating shallow puddles where the road dipped.

Just as she was preparing to brave the elements, she heard a commotion across the front yard that distracted her from her mission home. A group of the football jocks had surrounded someone—she couldn't' see who it was—and they were laughing and clapping boisterously. It didn't sound friendly though. Claire felt instinctively concerned, even though she knew nothing about the situation. A moment later, the jocks parted slightly and Claire could see a boy in the middle of them; she remembered him from the previous week when he had crashed into her on the field.

"Hey! What's going on over here?" Claire jogged across the field to close the gap between herself and the jocks who were currently terrorizing the boy named Sam. "Leave him alone!"

"Claire!" A few of the jocks recognized Claire as she approached and greeted her with wide smiles.

"Hi," she returned the greeting, thinking it would be polite.

"Hey, you free tonight Claire? We'd love it if you could come to the party I'm throwing." The jock who was speaking was named something like Josh. Claire couldn't remember specifically. They all seemed to be named a variation of the same thing. "It's going to be awesome," he continued. "My older brother's getting us a keg!"

Claire tried desperately hard not to role her eyes. "As awesome as a kegger sounds, I've got other plans. But thanks for the invite." Her eyes drifted to the boy they had been bullying—his round face was red and splotchy and his protuberant brown eyes glistened with the temptation of tears. "Hey Sam!"

The boy stared at her, his lips parted in silent awe. He seemed stunned that she had actually admitted acquaintance with him in front of all the jocks. The jocks were equally shocked.

"Do you know him?" One of the guys asked. Claire couldn't remember his name, but his letterman's jacket was branded by a large number 12.

Claire nodded. "We met last week. Do you guys know him?" She narrowed her eyes at each of the guys in turn, daring them to admit what they had been doing to him before she showed up.

"Yea right," one of the guys scoffed.

The guy who had invited her to the party seemed more hesitant to joke though. He smiled at her slightly and shrugged. "He's not really one of us, Claire..."

"One of you?" She hated this part of high school—the clicks and the people who though they had the right to choose who belonged where. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder and shifted her weight onto one foot. "I've only been here for two weeks. How do you know I'm one of you?"

The guys laughed as though she had just told a funny joke.

"I'm not joking." She assured them. "I bet you know as little about Sam as you do about me. So what makes us any different?"

"Are you serious?" Number 12 was talking again. "Claire, you're a cheerleader."

"And Jenny says you're from the Upper East Side," another guy piped up. "He's a welfare kid."

Claire looked at Sam who had now lowered his eyes to the ground. She was almost positive that he had started to cry. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do even. Coming over here a moment ago had felt like the right move, but now she didn't know why. What did she think she could do for this situation? It wasn't like she was going to fight the guys to make them stop picking on Sam and other boys like him. Things would continue just the way they always were, regardless of anything she said or did today. The choice she had to make was whether or not she wanted to lose her only shot at a normal life with the popular kids that could make high school fun, just so she could feel good about herself in her decision to stick up for a welfare kid.

It started raining harder; it was almost like a sign for Claire to step out of the situation. "I've got to go. My boyfriend's waiting for me." She sighed, taking one more look at Sam and then at the group of jocks who couldn't care less about her valiant effort to make a difference. "See you all on Monday."

"Bye Claire!" The guys waved at her joyfully; they seemed ready to ignore the fact that this attempt at an intervention had ever taken place.

As Claire hurried off, pulling the hood of her jacket up over her head for maximum protection from the rain, she started hating herself for her inability to help. No matter her good intentions, she still felt useless. Who know how much crap Sam had to put up with from those guys on a daily basis?

What good am I going to be to him? She argued with herself, trying to compensate the guilt she felt in walking away. I'm just one person.

CLAUDE

NEW YORK

Being invisible had its conveniences—beyond avoiding cops and easy shoplifting. He knew that had he been visible, keeping an eye on her would have been impossible. She was smart, maybe a little too smart sometimes. And she was always paranoid. He blamed that on her circumstances. Life had been hard on her in the past few months. She had experienced a lot of fear and pain. But in many ways, all the suffering had been good for her. She had learned valuable lessons about trust and friendship and she had learned the importance of her secret.

Claude remembered when Peter had first mentioned Claire. He had described her as a "sweet kid with a sad little smile". That had been the first power he had managed to pull up on his own. At that moment Claude had known there had been a powerful connection between Claire and Peter—more than they could realize. For him to think of her and be able to access her power so completely, and above all the others he possessed—including his own brother—was unique. That connection was one Claude couldn't overlook.

He wondered, as he watched Claire, whether or not she was aware of how attached Peter was to her. It would be important for her to become aware of it at some point. Both of them would undoubtedly benefit from it if they let themselves. Of course, certain things would need to be overcome first, but it wasn't his job to worry about that.

Claire was crossing the street now, and he realized that he had fallen behind a little, so he hurried to catch up; he slowed when he was three feet behind her. She was jogging across the intersection, lifting her knees high like a show horse, to avoid the puddles. When she had successfully crossed, she stepped beneath the awning of a corner coffee shop for short relief from the rain before starting up again.

He followed her all the way to the steps of the apartment complex, and then he watched her slip into the building and disappear from his sight. Overall, his day had been uneventful. And taking nearly twenty minutes to follow a teenage girl wasn't his ideal use of an afternoon, but strangely he didn't mind at all.