I Can Fix You
Previously on Heroes
Looking over at Matt, Gabriel asks, "So, when do we head out west?"
Gabriel wakes up a quarter till five that morning, in the apartment he now shares with Matt Parkman. Matt was able to get his job back on the LAPD, only now as a detective.
As Gabriel walks towards the Metro Express to get to the airport, he purchases the morning paper depicting a studio portrait of a little girl missing.
Sandra says, "Well, since Matt's stuck at the station, I insist you come have dinner with us. Lyle is ordering in pizza."
Gabriel sees an older woman sliding out of a truck parked in the grass and promptly placing a 'for sale' sign on the windshield.
"What is your asking price on this truck?" Gabriel inquires.
The woman grabs his hand and places the keys in his palm, "Sold!"
"Ma'am?" Gabriel asks the women, "Did you meet some unfortunate animal?"
The woman, for a microscopic second, freezes. Then she says, "Oh you had to remind of that. Some mutt ran in front of me and I hit it."
As Gabriel grips the wheel, he gasps, as dozens of images flood his mind.
"Matt! I know where Olivia Tate is!"
Chapter 4: The Fear Of Being Found
"Sylar's powers are starting to develop," Noah says. Angela and Nathan had abruptly "scheduled flights" to California when they received word that Gabriel had unexpectedly solved a murder and kidnapping, and now everyone, minus Gabriel, Claire, Lyle, and Sandra are now gathered around the dinner table, that day's Thanksgiving meal packaged away in the refrigerator.
"What should we consider doing now?" Nathan asks of the group. "We said that once his powers start re-manifesting, we would tell him the truth."
Matt disagrees, "Yeah, but he's refusing to acknowledge what had happened, blaming it on 'divine intervention'. He was afraid to tell me how he knew exactly where the girl was. For once, his life is going the way he wants it to be. He's worried that we'll think he's a freak. Should we wait? At least until something more concrete appears?"
"Yes," Angela says. "He won't be ready until he accepts what happened the other night."
"Sandra told me that he and Claire have been getting along rather well," Noah says. "He might feel compelled to open up to her."
Peter nods, "But how were you able to explain this to the lead investigator on the case?"
"What the media never found out was that blood was found at the scene, despite what the Thortons' thought," Matt explains. "When it was discovered that that area was the last known spot of the Tates', it was compared to James's and Olivia's DNA. The results came in this morning, and loaded with the on the spot testing of the sample on the truck that tested positive for human protein, it was enough for a search warrant based on probable cause, and we were able to find the girl in the basement six o' two this morning.
"What went in the books officially was that Gabriel called me, excited about a truck suspiciously sold for twenty bucks, and comments on the blood from a stray dog. I, desperate for a lead, took a sample and was able to get a warrant, and the rest is history. The couple confessed on the spot and agreed to a plea bargain, this case won't go to trial and Gabriel is never mentioned by name."
"Good," Nathan says, "We just need to make sure he doesn't pick up on anything that could make national headlines."
"Something tells me that is going to be easier said than done," Noah says.
Outside, Gabriel, Claire, and Sandra sit on the porch and finish up their ice cream as they observe Lyle practicing his lay-up.
"So are you missing your truck, since it was confiscated for processing?" Claire asks.
Gabriel sighs, "Yeah. If they weren't so desperate to get rid of the murder weapon, Matt wouldn't have found it so suspicious of the asking price of the truck."
"Yeah," Claire says, giving Gabriel a knowing look, which he blatantly ignores. "Matt sure is intuitive."
Sandra disagrees, "You would be amazed of the revenge tactics of a scorned wife. If it had not been for the blood, it would not be all too surprising that a rich, middle aged husband would run off with a younger woman."
Claire sighs and changes the subject, "It is too bad you didn't have the truck when I moved into my apartment."
Gabriel frowns, "You moved out? When?"
"Four months ago?" Claire shrugs. "We've all been really busy, and we never saw each other long enough for me to remember to mention it."
"It is actually the complex that is across the street from yours," Sandra says, carefully. "It would help me sleep better at night if Claire got your number."
Gabriel is touched. It is the nicest thing Mrs. Bennet had ever said to him in the last five months, until she says, "Since Matt is a cop." Of course, the number to me and Matt's apartment. "So are you living there with friends?" Gabriel asks.
Sandra laughs lightly as Claire suddenly gets wound up. "Oh yeah! I live with three other girls, and we're sharing two bedrooms with one bathroom. The girl I'm sharing a room with, Tammy, went to Costa Verde with me, wanted to get an apartment. The one we're at has the cheapest rent, and the only way we could afford it is to get a third roommate. Enter Elizabeth, Tammy's friend from another school. She's pretty cool. But two months ago, Liz's friend Violet the Violent need to a place to stay. We all thought, 'Cool, rent split four ways.' Well, she has yet to chip in a dime, and she accuses us of stealing her clothes!"
Gabriel quirks a brow, "Violet the Violent?"
Claire rolls her eyes, "That is a whole other story. But the thing is, we're all missing some of our stuff, and something is always broken and we always have to put up with Manny the Martian Maintenance Man, who is super creepy."
"What is it with you girls and these awful nicknames?" Sandra asks.
"I…I am pretty good at fixing stuff, if you need anything….fixed," Gabriel finishes, lamely.
Claire gives him a small smile, but Gabriel senses that it is a sad smile. "That'd be great. If it's ok with you, we can go now. Something's messed up with the showerhead," Claire says.
They get up and go towards Claire's Rogue, and drive to Clear Vista Apartments. Claire explains that their apartment and the other apartments on their floor having been having the same issues, nothing ever gets fixed, despite the maintenance work.
Arriving at Claire's apartment, Gabriel cannot help but wonder why a place as flashy-but affordable-as Clear Vista could suffer so much from maintenance problems. Claire's roommates were there, and as introductions were made, Gabriel had trouble stifling a laugh as he should Violet's hand.
Claire leads Gabriel to the bathroom. He looks around. "It's so…girly," he comments.
"Uh, duh," Claire says. Then she points to the shower head, "Now go. Fix. Do something. We're desperate for a decent shower."
"Yes, ma'am," Gabriel says. He turns the shower on to assess the water flow through the showerhead. Then he grabs the showerhead and gives it a good twist counter clockwise until it is off. "I see what it is," Gabriel shows Claire the inside of the showerhead. "There's a nasty calcium build-up."
"Eww gross!"
Gabriel laughs and walks out of the bathroom, "Do you have anything to scrub with? I can probably clear it enough to get a decent enough water flow for a shower. Then this weekend I can come back with some calcium remover stuff and a copper tipped pipe cleaner."
Following Claire to the kitchenette, she hands Gabriel a foil dish-scrubber. After a few minutes, Gabriel rinses the showerhead out, amazed at all the residue that pours out, and the amount that is still left. Back in the bathroom, he peers into the shower pipe. "This is odd," Gabriel looks at Claire. "There's no build up. As bad as the showerhead is, there ought to some build up in the pipe."
Claire grunts, "Just my luck."
Gabriel only shrugs, "Well, I'll let you get back to your roommates. It looks like they're enjoying a Gossip Girl DVD-a-thon."
"Bleh," Claire makes a face. "I've got my own collection in my room. Would you like to see?"
"Sure."
In the bedroom that Claire shares with Tammy, Gabriel feels a sense of familiarity that he could not place. Claire has several teddy bears on her day bed, and a few more on a microfiber butterfly chair. A thirteen in television sits on a shelf at the end of her bed. There, Claire keeps her DVDs as well as a few textbooks. "Buffy season four, Sliders seasons one through three, fifth season of Quantum Leap…" Gabriel stops on one particular DVD.
"The Princess Bride," Claire says, taking the movie off the shelf.
"It's Elle's favorite movie," Gabriel says.
"Would you like to watch it? It's still early," Claire wants to know, even though she is already moving to insert the DVD.
Gabriel nods and moves to the chair, picking up the bears and handing them to Claire to place with the others. Leaning back, Gabriel sees the wall clock, facing them directly across the room, with its painted black on yellow face. Following his gaze, she comments, "It came with the room. Tammy hates it but I think it's cute."
The movie starts, but Gabriel does not pay attention. His gaze keeps turning to the wall clock. Something about the clock is bothering him; he has this need to fix it. As The Man in Black sword fights with Inigo Montoya, Gabriel stands up.
"Gabriel?"
"This clock," Gabriel says. "It is running head, but something is making it run a second ahead, then only a half-second ahead…." He reaches to slip the clock of its hook, and upon closer inspection, he discovers something disturbing.
"Claire!" Gabriel shouts, grabbing for a metal nail file and uses it to pry off the plastic face plate.
"What are you doing?"
Further disassembling the clock, Gabriel picks up a small, square device with a short cable leading to, "A camera?" Claire exclaims in disbelief. Then a thought comes to her, "There's another one in Liz's room and in the front room."
Without another word, Claire and Gabriel dash out of the bedroom to the front room. Gabriel jumps over the sofa Liz and Tammy are sitting, startling them, and grabs the wall clock with the same smiley face. "What are you doing? You know we're not going to get our room deposit back now?" Violet all but shrieked.
Gabriel and Claire ignore her as Gabriel tears apart the clock. Picking up the small device, along with the one found in Claire's room, Gabriel looks grim, "Someone placed these cameras in the wall clocks. And I'm betting these are in working condition."
The girls are speechless. "I need to call Matt," Gabriel says, taking out his cell phone. After a few minutes, he hangs up the phone. "Your dad and Matt are on the way," Gabriel says.
"What are they going to do?" Liz asks.
"Matt's a cop, and my dad is head of security for Senator Petrelli," Claire says. "They'll know what to do."
Gabriel is silent. His gaze is unfocused, as his thumb caresses the camera lens, and a brief image of a balding, curly haired man with a rotund shape pass through his thoughts. Standing up, Gabriel asks, "Where does your maintenance guy live?"
"The floor above us, 3A," Claire tells him.
With one of the cameras in hand, Gabriel heads up a flight of stairs. Finding 3A, he knocks on the door, until the same balding man he had imagined earlier opens the door with a gruff, "What?"
"Are you Manny?" Gabriel asks.
"Who wants to know?" Manny replies. Looking over the taller man in front of him, Manny's gaze stop short at the camera in Gabriel's hand, which he pushes it in his face.
"What do you know of this in room 2D?" Gabriel growls.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Manny sputters, sweating profusely.
A cold chill travels down Gabriel's spine, "Don't. Lie. To. Me."
Instead of replying, Manny attempts to shove past Gabriel. With an almost unbridled sense of rage, Gabriel tackles the other man into the apartment, the door shutting on its own. Within the apartment, Manny manages to use massive weight to his advantage, pushing himself on top of Gabriel. With Gabriel's dominant hand pinned under him, he try to use his right hand to swipe at Manny, but he grabbed a hold on his wrist with one pudgy hand while the other is around Gabriel's neck.
The massive weight of Manny is crushing Gabriel's lungs, nearly cutting off his oxygen level to his brain. Around him, he is barely aware of Manny's lamp and various CD cases flying off the shelves. As Gabriel attempts another reach at Manny, a streak of red appears on Manny's cheek. He curses in pain and falls back, the pressure off Gabriel's chest and neck.
Suddenly rejuvenated, Gabriel lifts his head and, with his heel, aims directly for Manny's groin. He howls in pain, but before Gabriel could do anything else to Manny, the door to the apartment busts open and in walks Noah and Matt with guns drawn.
"Don't you move," Noah shouts, to whom he was shouting at, Gabriel was not sure. Matt steps into one of the bedrooms, and when he comes out, hand cuffs replaces the gun. Matt walks up to Manny and says, "Clark Mansfield, you are under arrest, for the violation of privacy and trespassing. You have the right to remain silent…."
As Matt tells Manny his rights, Noah pulls Gabriel to his feet, "You've a lot of explaining to do."
A few hours later, Gabriel is at the police station, giving Matt his statement, "It is just that, I had never felt so angry about anything before this." Matt writes some notes down, and Gabriel is left to gaze around the station, until his gaze lands on Manny. Manny had confessed to purposely sabotaging the utilities-in not just Claire's apartment, but all the rooms of female, college tenants- for the purpose of having a reason to visit the apartments just to see the girls. His set of master keys allowed him to break into the apartments and set his equipment.
I'll cut his throat the next time I—Gabriel's eyes widen before he could finish his own thought. Where did that come from?
In Washington, DC, Angela speaks on her phone, "I am having more dreams, Noah, and I have a feeling that they are going to need each other more than ever."
A/N: dundundun. You can read into that last line all you want…cuz you're prolly right.
Until next time, fare well and good night