"What do you mean, they got her?" Peter demanded the moment he heard Sylar's declaration; he didn't even seem to notice that it was Sylar who spoke.

"It's what they do now," Sylar continued to explain. As long as Peter was going to allow it, Sylar was going to take advantage of his permission to speak. "They search for those of us with advanced abilities that they can use for their twisted organization, and then they take those people hostage. Some of them they turn, but those that they can't turn, they keep locked up..." He paused for a moment, sighed, and then finished his thought. "Or some of them they kill."

"Why?"

"God only knows."

"So has Claire been turned? Is she one of them, like Hiro?"

Peter noticed some of the group's expressions change.

"You saw Hiro?" Micah asked.

"Yea, he was the one who took Molly," Peter explained. "I knew there was something wrong when I saw him do that."

"What?" Micah jumped to attention. "They got Molly? When? Where? Why didn't any of you tell me?"

"We were going to…we just needed the right moment," Jules told him slowly. "That's where I found Peter. He was getting ready to charge in like the cavalry, all alone." She paused. "I'm so sorry Micah."

The boy's brown eyes grew dark and his brows furrowed fiercely. "What are we still doing here? We need to go after her. We have to get her back!"

"We will," Sylar spoke up. "We'll get her back. She'll be fine."

"We don't have time to wait. We have to get her now."

"Micah, we have to make a plan. You know it's not that easy." Sylar stopped for a moment and stared hard at Micah; his eyes said a million things, but Peter didn't understand any of it. "Remember, she's not the first one we've lost."

Micah took a deep breath and slowly calmed down. "I'm sorry, Gabriel. I wasn't thinking…"

Peter wondered who else had been lost in this war that was so unfamiliar to him. As curious as he was though, his thoughts were only focused on Claire and so he asked about her again.

"She hasn't been changed, Pete." Micah told him finally. "They couldn't change her in a hundred years. Unfortunately for her though, they'll have a hundred years to try."

"What do you mean?"

"Her abilities have developed more. She can't die Peter," Sylar explained. "Her body will continually regenerate. She'll never be able to die—unless she has her head cut off or something. I'm not really certain about the specifics."

"What are they doing with her?"

"Tests mostly, I guess." Micah told him. "We don't really know."

"We have to get her back," Peter decided instantly. "And Molly obviously."

"And Emily," Sylar spoke up.

"Who?"

"Emily is my wife."

"And they took her too?"

"A few months ago. She's hated them for a long time, but we were doing okay. We were fighting them together, until recently…she started taking more aggressive measures and stopped discussing them with me first." Sylar sighed. "And finally they caught her."

"Why did she hate them so much? I mean, other than the obvious."

"She was raised by them," Sylar answered briefly.

"Look Pete, there's something I think you should see…it might help you understand the changes we've had to survive," Micah spoke up suddenly.

Peter gave him his attention, curiously, and Micah directed his eyes to a TV propped up in the corner on a wooden crate. Only one station seemed to come in, and even that one was fuzzy, but Peter watched intently when he saw who was speaking on the screen.

"…we are living in a world of opposition. It is not foreign powers who are opposing us though, but those within our own nation—our neighbors, our friends, and even our families."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Peter moved closer to the TV and knelt in front of it. The others moved in behind him, carefully watching his reaction. The news on the television meant nothing to them anymore—they had seen the same speech a hundred times.

"…now more than ever, it is crucial for us to stay grounded in what we know to be right and not be influenced by the threatening lies of those who are misguided."

"He's one of theirs now Pete," Micah spoke up again. He placed his hand on Peter's shoulder. "He has been since the beginning. I'm sorry."

"But I don't understand…why would he?" Peter turned away from the TV only briefly to look for an answer in Micah's sad eyes.

"There's something you have to know about the Company, Pete…"

"What? Tell me!" His eagerness was convicting, but it only made the group sadder.

"The people leading it…well not actually leading it—the real leaders are a whole other issue—but the people who started it so many years ago…"

"Get to the point Micah!"

"It's your mom, Pete," Micah told him abruptly.

"My mom what?" Peter had missed the point. "Have they got her too?"

"No," Micah shook his head.

"Not exactly…" Sarah spoke up again and stepped closer to him as though she wanted to comfort him, but not exactly knowing how.

"She was one of the founders." Sylar had no trouble saying what the others couldn't.

Peter glared at him, both skeptically and resentfully.

"I know you don't want to hear it, especially not from me, but that doesn't make it any less true. She's been in it from the beginning as far as we can tell. There's a whole group of them who got the job rolling—of course their mission's become a bit altered since the other ones took charge."

"You're lying." Peter looked to Micah for confirmation, but Micah was staring at the ground. "It's not true! My mom's got her issues sure, but she's not capable of something like this!" He paused. "And you say since the beginning, but the Company's been around for years—like before I exploded and everything!"

"Sure has," Sylar commented without emotion.

Peter hesitated. He had been repressing the truth for so many months now that he hadn't stopped to consider it. His mom had been involved in the explosion—he was fully aware of that. Linderman and his mom had been working together for years. After the explosion though, Peter had wanted to believe that whatever scheme they had been plotting had failed and therefore had ended for good. He hadn't given thought to the possibility of a new plan being put into place. Sadly, it made sense to him that she hadn't forsaken her maniacal conspiracies. She had been silent for far too long to be without a purpose.

"Who else is involved?" He wanted to know.

"Actually you probably wouldn't know a lot of them. At the time you come from, they haven't made headlines yet," Micah explained. "Though you should know that Hiro was recruited by his dad."

"Mr. Nakamura?"

"Yea, he and your mom have been partners for a long time. His involvement with the Company was kept pretty quiet though strangely. In fact before Hiro got turned, and he was on our side briefly, he told us that his dad had wanted to help him stop you from exploding. Now that the truth about him has come out though, we think he was just trying to cover up his real involvement. The truth is he's even higher up in the chain than your mom, as far as we can tell."

"You keep saying turned. What does that mean exactly? How do they turn people? How did they turn Nathan?"

Micah looked to someone else for an explanation this time. Jules stepped up. "It's a type of brain control. We don't know the details—we haven't managed to get close enough to their headquarters to learn enough about how it works, or how to stop it. What we do know though is that they get the power from someone with an ability."

"An ability to mind control?" Peter repeated. "Like Matt?"

There was a brief silence.

"Dammit." Peter sighed. "It is Matt, isn't it?"

"Yea. To be honest, we don't even know how they got him on their side." Micah told him. "One second he was with us and the next," he shrugged. "It doesn't make sense at all! I mean he was happy. He had his wife—they had a son—and he even had his sister now!"

"I didn't know Matt had a sister," Peter spoke up.

"Emily," Sylar told him. "Emily is his sister. They never knew about each other."

"Where's Janice?"

"She's safe," Micah assured him. "Mohinder's made sure of that."

"Mohinder? What's he up to."

"He's the one taking care of all of us," Sarah smiled. "He makes sure we're all safe."

Sylar froze suddenly. He tilted his head and then looked at the others. "Run."

"What?" Peter looked around at the others, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Run now!" Sylar shouted.

The dispersion was alarming. Peter felt himself being jostled in the rush, but he didn't move. His instincts told him to become invisible again, but he couldn't do it. His abilities failed him—his mind was too focused on everything he had been hearing.

"Pete, run!"

Micah's voice sounded distant. Before he could respond, he felt something sharp pierce through the skin on his back and a moment later his body exploded in pain. He felt like he was on fire, and then on ice, and then he just felt pain and finally he felt nothing.

A/N: Okay, so I know I missed a week, but it's been harder than I expected to find time to write. My schoolwork keeps me insanely busy. Any free time I do have, I'm usually sleeping. I'm doing my best to keep my writing more regular, but I can't promise anything, except that I won't forsake this story. I love it way too much—unfortunately it's been costing my other stories to suffer. I'm trying to find a way to balance all my stories and my schoolwork and my life. So, stay with me please and always review! Because that keeps me going.