Chapter Two: Thus spoke Zarathustra

"God help me" whispered Niki.

"You shouldn't say this." said someone. No doubt it was a man's voice. "He already helped you."

"Where am I?" she asked. "And who are you?"

The man didn't answer. Instead, he lit some candles, but as Niki couldn't raise her head, she still didn't see him. Until the man leaned over her. He was black, and resembled very much to D.L except he was a lot younger and he had curly, dark hair. And his face was a lot dirtier.

"Who are you?" asked she again.

"A friend." he said and turned away.

"Wait" she wanted to shout it out, but her voice wasn't strong enough. "How am I alive?"

"We found you at the diner, just after the accident."

"How am I still alive?" she repeated.

"That's another day's story. I gotta go."

She tried to call him back, but instead she just asked him "What's your name?"

There was silence for a moment.

"I'm Samuel." he answered.

"Thank you, Samuel. I'm Niki."

He closed the door and she was left alone again. Just the pain and the need of answers.

"No. You're not right. I can bring him back. I can travel through time. I can save him." said Peter and he concentrated on the time Nathan was shot. He just had a few hours to go back.

He wanted to appear at the back of the people who surrounded the conference. He thought the shot came from back there. He appeared just where he wanted, time was frozen, many of the people were staring as they were waiting for Nathan's greatest announcement.

But one of them was doing even more. He was pulling a gun out of his coat. He was frozen as time was stopped around him. Peter had all the time he needed to stop him.

"No!" he yelled. He was stuck too, he couldn't use his power. Suddenly, a terrible noise appeared in his mind. Like he was hearing a falsely calibrated radio at maximum volume. He shouted as he realized he can't control himself.

The scene of Nathan's murder dissolved and he just saw a bright light. Bright as the sun at noon. Than he blacked out.

Someone loudly knocked on the door of the Bennets' house.

A few moments later, Sandra Bennet opened it.

"May I come on?" asked a young, blond, handsome guy in front of the door.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Bob sent me here. I'm here to help."

"I don't have anything t discuss with your boss. We're out of this." she started to close the door, but he stopped it.

"You have listen to me. Your husband isn't allowed to help you and Claire will really need help."

"About what? And tell me" she said before he could answer "why am I listening to you."

"Because you want your daughter alive." said he with Sandra's voice.

Air temperature seemed to drop sub-zero.

"Mom!" shouted Claire.

"Can I talk to her?" Sandra heard her own voice again.

Claire came out of the house and stood still beside her mother.

"Mom, who's this?" asked Claire.

He gave her his hand. It was shaking.

"Call me Nick." said he with his own calm voice. "I'm here to save the cheerleader."

"Save me?" he was surprised because of the last sentence. "Save me from what?"

"From a villain. I think we'd better get in."

A few seconds later Nick and the three Bennets were sitting around the dining table.

"Sylar's not dead. And we got a sure information that he's heading here. There's only one reasonable cause."

Claire couldn't speak a word when she heard the name. She was only one of them who really met the serial killer and remembered it, too.

"What Sylar?" asked Sandra.

"He's a murderer. He kills people with abilities. And now he wants Claire."

"What do you want me to do?" asked Claire before anyone could spoke.

"Not just you. We want the whole family to leave. In this moment."

"I don't leave without Noah." interrupted Sandra.

"You'll have to. We don't want anyone to get in danger – expect me" he added after a short time.

"What?" asked all three of them.

"Yes" said another person "we want to trap Sylar here. And Nicholas is the perfect one for the job."

Everyone but Nick turned around, but none of them recognized the middle-aged man. He resembled a bit to Noah but he was shorter and his face was rougher.

"Why?" asked Claire. "And who are you?"

"I'm Nicholas' partner. Our rules say I must look after him. And, if you haven't noticed..."

"I can alter my voice" Suddenly, everyone turned back to Nicholas. He's just used Claire's voice. Everyone stared at him, but he was looking like a little boy caught on some wrongdoing.

"So, are you in?" asked the company agent.

They didn't spoke for a long time.

"If you changed your mind" the agent said "we're waiting outside with the vans."

New Mexico was quite a change for Mohinder. He haven't lived much in New York but he just got used to its air, its people, its milieu. Here, first of all, he was sweating heavily, he felt he could be cooked alive.

"Dr. Suresh" a woman called his name behind his back. But he didn't want any acquaintance. He just wanted to be left alone with Molly until his new partner will arrive. And still, he felt sorry for her. He couldn't imagine, and in fact he didn't want to imagine, how hard could it be to her, being always on the run, hiding and always looking for new dangers. So he didn't want to be discovered and he sped up.

"Dr. Suresh" called the woman again. "I'm not as fast as you. Dr Suresh."

He could take it no more, and at last, he turned back. A small, Asian woman was following them.

"What do you want from me?" asked he angrily.

"If you let me, I'll tell you." answered she while she was wheezing. "Nice to meet you. I'm Doctor Wang. I'm your new partner."

They shook hands which gave Mohinder a shocking surprise. The doctor's right arm was artificial.

"If you're my partner you supposed to have an ability." he whispered. "I'm keen to know what it is."

"Imagine working with someone like Gabriel Gray." answered she, just under her breath.

The name stunned Mohinder.

"You see, Ando" began Hiro "I can't just sit here and wait for something terrible to happen. I got this gift, and I know I must use it."

"But what else can you do, Hiro?" he asked.

"Anything. I can go anywhere, anytime."

"You can't play God. You deal with things other's couldn't ever imagine. But don't let this drove you out of yourself."

"Out of myself?! I'm supposed to be a hero."

"And you are! You are Kensei!"

"It's not just that. A superhero must be aware of the others. To take care of them. To save them."

"You've saved New York. You've saved the world. Not even once, maybe."

"But what if it's not enough?"

"That's what I told you. If you keep thinking about this, it'll drive you out of yourself and will eat you up like a monster. You have a life. If you don't deal with it, you'll lose it."

"So how is our new patient, Luc?" asked Bob calmly. He didn't want to show how much he cared about Maya Herrera. He knew she would be an excellent addition to the Company's group of powered humans. But he hasn't given any orders for specific treatment.

"Well, obviously in discomfort. Nobody likes being locked up. But, except that, she's quite well. Only tried to kill me once."

"When will she be ready for training?" He was curious about this.

"Hours. Days. Who knows? I hope she won't kill too much of us."

"Well, I guess it's my task to worry about." He knew he didn't have any reason for that. They had Claire's blood.

He stepped forward, to the window of her room. She couldn't see him through the glass. She looked sad. And desperate. And he knew, they could use that desperation. If she can't kill Sylar, nobody can.

"They won't come" said Nick. "Until we bring the father here."

"Yes, they will." said Clinton DeFargau, his partner. "They won't risk their lives."

"It's not fair for them." he remembered his parents' face when Bob come for him and told him about everything he's done at high school and that he had wanted him. And his ability. Almost two years ago and since then, he only met his father once. They wanted him to disappear, so he disappeared.

"Course, it's not. But there'll always be hard decisions."

"How can you just sit here without any emotion?"

"You'll learn it." He looked at the rear-view mirror and saw the Bennet family coming out of their house with huge boxes. "Lucky that you didn't bet on it." he added.

As they got out of the van, Claire put down the box she was carrying, and talked to DeFargau.

"You'll give me an hour." she stated. It seemed it'll be very hard to persuade her.

DeFargau looked like he was thinking about the proposal.

"We're agreed. You've got an hour."

He walked to the front of the van and also called Nicholas there.

"I'll take care of the family. You'll look after her."

"You want me to spy on her?" he whispered.

"Like I said. Hard decisions. Get after her!"

Clinton was totally right. It really was a hard thing to do. And not just because of the spying.

"I guess you don't want to get to Costa Verde by car." said Elle impassively.

"Of course not." answered Noah.

"And how do you stop me when we're getting out of the car?"

"I'm just counting on you."

"After all you've done to me?"

"After all you've done to me. You and your father. Just imagine. If you had a child, what would you do in my position?"

Elle did just that. She thought about it. She knew Noah was getting closer to his goal with any second as trees changed to buildings. Funny she never thought of never even dreamed of a normal life like this. Getting married, having a child. She just didn't have the rights to think about that. How can she even dream about this when can shock anybody to death. Like everyone he loves would be near high voltage constantly. In fact, she never had the right to love anybody. She thought about what would her father do. She didn't have to guess. She knew the answer for that. But the main question was, has she been really different from him? She didn't want be someone like her father. Would she be able, be ready to cause such pain? She looked for the answers but she didn't found any of them. She thought about her father. The only person in her life, she really cared about. What would he do, and what will she do with her?

"Get out!" said Bennet. "I hope you'll make the right choice."

"Me too." She quickly took Noah's hand and shocked him. He fell but Elle's plan has worked. He was unconscious but undoubtedly alive.

"I'm here, Detective Fuller." reported Matt to his chief. They were called to crime scene and he has just arrived. The place was full of the smell of murder. If someone had felt this smell before, he could never forget it.

"Name's Joe Carson. 49 years old, divorced. Haven't worked for about six months." Fuller began to read the file in his hand. "Once charged with a fine."

"What did he do?"

"It says dangerous driving. What the...? His car slipped on an oil slick and he hit a young girl."

"What the hell? And he was just fined?" He immediately thought about Molly. He couldn't imagine losing her. "And what happened? Did we find anything?"

"Well, he was strangled but we didn't found the killer weapon. I think it was a wire or something like that."

"What makes you think that?" He looked around looking for extraordinary things around the small flat.

"His neck looks like the killer didn't use bare hands."

Matt continued the look around and think. This is his luck. A case in which can't use his power. No witnesses, no lies. He opened the door to the balcony.

"Did you find the door locked?"

"Yeah." answered Fuller.

" We're up on a twenty-storey building. The killer had to get in here. The killer had a key to the flat. I guess this makes pretty few suspects. And what about all these damned spider webs?"

"We found so much alcohol in his blood that could have easily killed an elephant. I guess cleaning up simply wasn't his passion."

"Right. Than I'll check out the neighborhood. If anyone saw something I want to talk to them."

"Good luck, Parkman." said Fuller. "I haven't seen the CSI report but I think he's been lying here for a long time."

"So you think no one has seen anything?"

He nodded. "But if you want to try, go on."

Matt felt quite alone and powerless. And he didn't like that feeling.

Sylar knew that now, when he is hunted of all the cops in New York, it would have been a very foolish step, to fly to California directly from JFK. That's why he took the train to Pittsburgh first. It might be an easier to task to get on a plane there.

He was secure. He trusted himself again, now that he had his powers back. He took a seat. A dark-haired, young girl sat opposite him. She was reading that book again. The book he saw so much. Activating Evolution.

"Are you interested in genetics?" asked he as the train began to move.

The girl took a look of him and then smiled.

"Actually, not." he pulled another book from her bag and gave it to him. "I'm majoring in Philosophy."

Interesting, thought Sylar. He looked at the book. It was Thus spoke Zarathustra from Friedrich Nietzsche.

"I've never read this." he whispered. "But what's the point? What has this to do with Suresh's book?"

"Well" the girl take a deep breath "if you haven't read it you might not see it. But this book, Suresh's is quite inflaming. Think about it. Theoretically, if these people existed. It's a very fascinating question. Nietzsche states we're some kind of transition to the overhumans. He might not referred to the transition Suresh mentions, but..."

"Wait." interrupted Sylar. "Overhuman? What is that?"

Another deep breath. "Well, it's quite hard to describe the overman. But, in my interpretation, the overman is a "total person". The overman carries a horrible amount of creativity, energy and responsibility with it, an immense power. He or she wants to be "over" the society, which means he kind of steps in God's position giving moral instructions to others with her or his acts, giving purpose and meaning."

"Step in God's position? What does that mean? Save the world..."

"I think it's more teaching others to save it. But it is not a stable part. You see, there are various theories about this and false explanations about this, like the Nazis have done it many years ago. But at the level of the overman, morality can easily lose its whole meaning."

"How? The overman is allowed to kill, too?"

"If he or she needs to, I guess, yes. But that's the last option."

"So these people..."

"Can be the overmen? Possibly. But becoming an overman is a question of will, too."

Sylar was a bit surprised how this girl's speech fascinated him, too.

"I'm Gabriel" introduced himself. But he didn't say his full name. He couldn't know if she could be trusted.

"I'm Marie. Marie Williams."

"It was an honor to meet you. It might seem banal, but can I ask for your phone number. You really are special."

Marie's face turned red immediately.

"So what did you mean with this?" asked Mohinder from his new partner.

"Where's Molly?" she asked.

"She's looking around in the new flat. And I guess she'll sleep then. But you haven't answered and if you won't I'll go away as well and take Molly with me."

"Would you just sit down? I'll answer you." She sighed. Looked like she didn't want to begin this. "I lost my arm when I was seven. My life depended just on my luck but I survived."

"I'm not really interested in your childhood memories."

"They knew I was talented. I attended to a university in Shanghai when I was 16. Four years later I 've come here to New Mexico. I was twenty-two when I constructed the first version of this artificial arm and a year ago I constructed this one. And as far as we know it's the most sensitive artificial arm. This is my power. I can think. In fact, I'm paid to think. I can see sense in problems, things where others don't. And there is only one person we know who has an ability similar to this."

"Sylar. So you know how his ability works."

"Well, I saw things and on the grounds of this, I have guesses."

"But your guesses are usually good."

"That's why I'm here."

Hiro didn't just feel lonely. He was bored. Very bored. He was surfing on the Internet and saw how terrible things had happened in the world or just in Japan. But he knew he couldn't do anything. He couldn't change the past. It would not be right. But all these accidents, disasters and crimes. He couldn't accept that he could do nothing.

But... a great idea came to his mind. If he travels to the future and comes to know with the future dangers, he can come back to the present and change history. That would be a real heroic act. Maybe a bit mundane but naturally a hero stuff.

Ando has just stepped into his cubicle. Hiro turned towards him.

"I'll do it." shouted heand disappeared.

Peter woke up in a park. Someone was shaking him. He looked up and saw a beautiful girl's face. The wind was softly blowing her blond hair and her look was so charming. After a few moments, he looked around. He wanted to know where he was. He didn't really saw anything familiar.

"You're at National Mall. Pretty strange place to fall asleep" said she.

"What National Mall? Where?"

"In D. C., of course. Shouldn't I call an ambulance?"

"No, thanks, I'm fine." answered Peter as he stood up.

He looked around again. There was just sunset. And he saw two vans, decorated with rainbows and colored flowers.

"What, what time is it?" he stammered.

She looked at her watch. "About quarter to eight. Why?"

"No, tell me the year, please."

"Seventy-two. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Seventy-two. OK." repeated Peter near to being stunned. How on earth did he get here?