Chapter 4: The clock is ticking

"Well, I guess you're a talented drawer." She gave to pad to Peter.

There were three figures on it. The first person had only her back to see but looking at the hair and the coat Peter thought it might be himself. The second one was Olivia, and the third person was someone very familiar. Too familiar to be here. The two latter were having a conversation.

"You know this woman?" pointed Peter on the third person.

"Angela? Of course, I do. She's my colleague."

Peter was stunned again. How many surprises await him? He didn't knew many about his parents' life before he was born. When sometimes these themes turned up, air temperature seemed to drop a lot – except how his parents had met. But, generally the present and the future was always more important. So he didn't know his mother had worked in Washington. He only knew they had met in New York but nothing more.

"Where ... where do you work exactly?" he asked. Now, he wanted to know more.

"Ministry of Foreign Affairs." she answered. But, suddenly, he heard her thoughts again. "My God, I should hide the gun. If he realizes I'm CIA, we're near dead."

Well, at least, he knew the answer he had wanted a moment before. If Olivia didn't lie, (and why would she) his mother was a federal agent. It didn't seem an easy fact to accept.

"Eh..." stammered she. "I'll go up and take a shower. I must get to work. Would you like to have one, too?"

"No" answered Peter silently. "Thanks, I'm fine. I think when you get back I'll be gone."

"Are you sure?" asked she and he nodded.

She started to get out of the room but she turned back for a moment.

"Why are you saying you're fine when you're probably not?"

Peter looked at her but didn't say a word. Words seemed too heavy for him now. Just as he heard the voices of her steps disappear, he turned invisible.

He had to repeat a former question. Why was he here? Was this his destiny? He realized things he never wanted to and he didn't know where was the end of these. Should he learn the past? He didn't knew this answer but he thought he could get some when he stays here.

He phased through the wall and walked out to the street, waiting for her. If he follows her, he'll get to his mother. And there'll be no more secrets.

Monica woke up suddenly as someone slapped her face.

"Yo sur this wuz da girl, Hype?" asked someone in a deep voice, darkened by smoke.

"Yo, homie." answered Hype Wilson. Some people started to laugh. "This bicch iz nutz, homies."

"Yo tink?" asked the man with deep voice again. "I tink she ain't. Go on, homie."

Someone helped Monica to get to her feet. She looked around and she was horrified form what she's seen. She was in a court (maybe a basketball court but it was guarded with many fences and there were no functioning lights around it) surrounded by more than ten gang members as she could count it in the dark. They were in a circle and she was in the middle of it. They were guarding her.

Hype Wilson wearing nothing but shoes and training pants, stepped out of the circle, heading to Monica.

"Gotta tape, homies?" he asked.

"Yo, homie." someone answered from the crowd.

He started running, trying to hit Monica but her body's natural reaction was just too quick for him as she pulled his arm and he lost his balance and landed on the ground. Many gang members started to laugh but the most of them has gone silent in a moment. But, they didn't make a single move.

So, they wanted a fight, realized Monica. Then they'll get it, she thought. She tried to remember all of his knowledge about martial arts as Hype attacked her again. She repulsed it again. Then, she kicked him in the face. That really hurt him because something cracked. Now, he realized, what pain was. He tried to kill Monica and wanted a second chance. But now, she was free and she could make him pay. As she kicked him again he cried for help.

Two gang members were trying to hit Monica, but with her skills, she was simply untouchable for them. There were many of them but she managed to knock them out, one by one.

Then, she saw one more. The one with the camera. As the last one of his mates fell, he started running. Monica was getting after him, she chased him for about a minute when he, looking backwards, didn't saw the trash can in his way and fell on the street so she could reach him.

"Why?" asked she. She was burning in pain and fury and she wanted answers.

"Why wha?" asked he.

"Why was all this stuff with me?"

"The dude. The dammed white guy who paid fo' Hype. He wunted a tape of this."

"He wanted a tape of me fighting? Why? And how did he stay in contact with you?"

"Dunno. Dunno why. But he wunted whatta ... fair fight. Jus' you and him."

"How could you reach him?" asked she again. She knew now that the gang members were just the blade and she wanted the hand moving the knife. She wanted to know who was spying on her.

"The address. It's on the cam. He said when we gotcha and the tape send it to that."

She looked for the camera. The gang member dropped it as he fell and it was just a few meters away from them. There was a paper on it, with an address in Las Vegas.

"I think I'll borrow this." she said but he was just squealing. "And don't mess with me like this again." Then she turned away. She wanted to go home. The sun was just rising and she was tired and it was late to chase mysteries.

Matt stayed in his office for a while. He had the files of the strangler's two victims and he thought she realized something. Carson was fined when he hit a young girl, Sabine Jefferson. It was strange for him for the first time, too, so he asked for her reports from the hospital. She's been in coma for more than three years. The second victim, Joseph Fielding, M.D. was in the Board of Directors of the hospital she was lying in. His intuitions were not the best in the past but he knew this could not be a coincidence. And now he had to make a hard but decisive call.

"Sabine Dailly here." answered a woman on the other end.

"Good evening, Miss Dailly and sorry for disturbing you this late. I'm officer Matt Parkman from NYPD and I would like to ask some questions."

"About what?" she asked angrily.

"About your daughter. And the strangler."

She took a deep breath.

"You're calling me as your best suspect?"

"No, I don't. But this case can raise suspicion and hype and we don't want that, including you." He knew he could have better results if he would go there personally but he wanted to move fast and needed the woman as conscious as she could be.

"What do you know about Nolan?" she asked.

"About your former husband?"

"We divorced after Sabine was hit. He simply could not take it. Yes, he begged for Fielding, but he refused to help us because we weren't rich enough. Then, he went down in the shadows. I didn't know what he was seeking, help or revenge. He worked at night and I asked him what he was doing." Her voice started to hear like crying. "We had several, no, a lot of quarrels. Then, I couldn't take it any more, either."

"You think he might be involved in some crime?"

"Yes." she whispered back.

"Can you imagine he might be the killer?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Miss Dailly. I'll talk to you later, too."

He had to check the reality of Sabine Dailly's speech when he's face to face with her, but first of all, he had to protect anyone involved in this case – including Sabine Dailly, because, after the divorce, his daughter was judged to her. And if Nolan Jefferson was the spider-man and he was out there looking for his prey, she could have been on his list, too.

"So what on earth did she want to do in just an hour?" asked Clinton DeFargau. "Tell me, Nick!"

"Nothing serious." he said calmly. But his voice was not near cold. It was full of disappointment. "She just wanted to say goodbye to one of her friends."

"One of her friends, huh?" he asked. "Wasn't that friend a tall boy with dark hair?"

"Well" Nicholas stopped to think but he told the truth. He had no reason to lie. "Yes. Why?"

Clinton didn't answer him. Instead he made a fast call on his cell phone.

"DeFargau here. There's a flaw in the plan. Get them to Hartsdale first. They need to meet the Haitian." Nicholas froze as he heard that name. "Immediate erase of West Rosen. Anything about him." Then he put the phone away.

"Why on earth?" asked Nicholas.

"Anything that connects them to this place means danger. Mortal danger. This place could be a slaughterhouse at any moment and you know that. We can't have them involved."

But if they can't have Claire and her family involved, why can the Company let Clinton and him involved, asked Nick from himself.

Noah Bennet woke up in a cell that was annoyingly familiar to him. He was trapped again. He was out in his reckoning. He thought persuading Elle with human values can make them free. Free to take good care of his family.

"Good morning, Noah." said Bob. He was also standing in the cell confidently. Noah looked at him but didn't say a word.

"I'm afraid you're grounded."

"Shut up with this silly shit." he burst out. "You know why I turned back. And you just lock me up here?"

"Relax." said Bob calmly. "Claire, Lyle and Sandra will all be safe. They're heading here in this very moment."

"Here? Why? You want to trap them like you trapped me?" Noah wanted to run and hit him but he realized that his legs were in chains.

"No. Absolutely no. They will get a new identity and we're going to take the best care of them."

"And what about me?" asked Noah.

"Well, you won't be seeing them now..."

"Sonofabitch!" he yelled and he tried to get free. He failed again.

"But you can return to your family as soon as we get you a new partner." He turned back.

"And how much will it take?"

"Depends on your partner." he answered as he went out of the cell and locked the door leaving Noah alone.

He just walked a few meters and opened the door of another cell. Maya Herrera's one.

"Good evening, Maya." he greeted her.

"Who are you?" she asked. Her voice was full of fear and frustration.

"I'm Bob.

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing. At least, not now."

"Then why keep me here? Let me go."

"I'm afraid I can't. You won't be safe out there."

"Then what is this? These trainings. They are killing me. And I can kill, too, I know. But I don't want to. I'm lost."

"We just want to help you. To use your gift."

"It's not a gift." she yelled.

"You need to possess it as safely as you can. You can control it now. If you can gain more control of it, like setting its range, it could do amazing things."

"Killing. Assassinating. That's not wonderful."

"There are some things that can only be stopped by death." He stepped closer to her as he saw Activating Evolution on her bedside table.

"Pure gold, isn't it? Every word of it." Then he started to turn it into gold. She was absolutely amazed.

"We just want to help you." he began. "And, at a time, we might need your help. To do something amazing." He couldn't recognize any effect behind her night-dark eyes.

Someone knocked on the door. Bob left the room, constantly watching her. As he locked the cell, one of his men turned to him.

"Mr. Bishop, Hiro Nakamura has arrived."

"Give the instructions to everyone. The clock is ticking and it's ticking fast."

Mohinder was already at the lab when Wang opened the door. She looked at her watch surprised. It wasn't even eight o'clock in the morning but he has already seemed very busy.

"Still the jet lag?"

"Well" began he, without looking from a microscope "your guesses are not the best now. I simply can't sleep. Just some nightmares." He didn't want to say more. The last time he saw dreams like this, they had meaning but nothing now. He just saw a shape like a human, formed by flames, so close to him that he could feel the heat erupting from it, even during dreaming.

"What are you looking at?" she asked.

"Trying to get back on track with my father's research. I took samples of Molly's blood to study her DNA. And, speaking about that, I'll need samples from you, too. You're only evolved ones around me so you two are my only chance."

"Do you believe in genesis, doctor? Actually, are you Christian?"

"How does this come to our research?"

"Well, I've been just thinking about the existence of a higher sense."

"As a scientist, having evolution all around me, I cannot really accept the story of Genesis. Or even God's existence."

"You might be right but it's an interesting idea. We are the only creatures living on this planet to deal even with the idea of God. We could be some kind of a part of him. And, more than that he can have parts in us."

"Is this a guess? Cause it sounds quite radical. And, in fact, are you a theologian, too?"

"I'm not, but what if these mutations are caused by some intelligence?"

"What are you talking about? This doesn't sound wild, this sounds mad!" Finally, he looked at her.

"I'm just thinking about a virus or something. We know the Company has experimented with a virus."

"With less than partial success, I think."

"What if this is another virus?"

"In the human DNA?"

"If it is, it could alter the structure of the whole human body, right?"

"If we accept this theory, maybe."

"And it could mutate variously, and more important, it could hide so we could not discover it."

"Then what about inheritance? We know several evolved humans having relatives with abilities. I think this quite busts your theory."

"When we're staying at the idea of a virus. What if it's something completely new?"

"You're talking contradictory to yourself. First you tell me to think something simple then you come forward with this amazingly ridiculous idea."

She sighed.

"You might be right, doctor. My guesses can't be right every time."

Peter didn't have to wait for a long time. After a few minutes, Olivia came out of his house, walked to a bus stop and took a bus heading to downtown.

He followed her, invisibly, looking for answers in her mind. But he didn't find many. Her thoughts were mostly around him questions like who was he, where he was heading, why did she let him sleep in her house, why did he trust him and, most of all, will she ever see him again. She just started to think about her work when she opened the door of her working place. She stepped in to an elevator, heading to the fourth floor. And her thoughts turned to somewhere else. She knew she could get a new assignment at any moment. There were several signs of a possible boiling point in the near future.

She stepped into her office, followed by Peter and saw that Angela was waiting for her.

"Hi, Olivia."

"Hi." she answered. "What's the matter?"

"It's here. The commies have requested a meeting."

"They have?" she asked. She was very surprised.

"Interesting story. Our secretary general says he had heard this message in his head last night. This morning, he got the same message on the Hot Line. Ridiculous, isn't it?"

"Well, seems it's the time for ridiculous things." Peter was reading her mind and he realized she was about to mention him. For a second, he froze in panic. Not here. Then, he started suggesting her to forget everything about him.

She looked like a statue as she wanted to say something in a second and in the next she didn't know what it was.

"Are you all right?" asked Angela.

"So, what do we have to do?" asked Olivia, now with clear eyes.

"What comes naturally. Meet them. Prepare for a trip. I hope you're not afraid of flying. We're departing tonight."

"You'll leave Arthur?" she asked.

"He'll understand it."

Olivia gulped then asked her. "Where to?"

"Austria." answered Angela, then she left. With Peter right after her.

The department reacted very quickly after Matt had alerted them. He has found several possible victims, so it took more than ten officers to cover and guard all of them, including himself. So, he was on night watch on a sofa of a flat on the fifth floor. Sometimes, he looked out of the window, too, to be sure there is no spider-man. He did this many times, and after a few times, he began to like it. He was never afraid of heights (not like Fuller) and from the window of the flat he could see a boulevard of New York, full of neon lights and life, even at night.

He looked at his watch. It was about 2 o'clock. He was pretty tired but he had to remain patient. Many lives could depend on him.

Then, suddenly a hard string slapped his arm from above, causing him to drop the gun down to the streets. He couldn't even look up and he was kicked in the stomach.

"Parkman!" yelled Fuller and he pulled his gun. "Put your hands down!" The next moment, he was also hit on the hand with the strange, white string and dropped the gun, too.

Matt tried to wake up but he felt himself too weak to do it. He could barely keep his eyes open, and they were covered by several tears.

"Nolan!" he said, not just in his mind.

The figure who attacked him, turned back.

"You don't want to hurt anyone." suggested Matt and then he said it out, too.

Nolan was kneeling down. OK, thought Matt. Just keep him calm. But he couldn't do it. In the next moment, Nolan jumped up, over him, down to the street.

"No!" cried Matt. He tried to get up as fast as he could but at that time he could see nothing. Traffic and people were moving like nothing had happened.

Now he knew. The nightmare, the spider-man was real.

Micah was heading to school bus stop when he saw Monica, in her pyjamas, with some blood and a lot of sweat on it. They were terrified when they saw that she was not in her bed. They've called the police, too.

He ran directly to her and he hugged her.

"Where were you?" he asked, with a few tears in his eyes.

"I was kidnapped by the gang who stole your backpack."

"What? Why?" Of course, he didn't understand it, either.

"I don't know but if you help me, I'll have the answer for that."

"How?" asked he excitedly.

She gave him the paper she had taken from camera.

"You lived in Las Vegas. Do you know where this place is?"

Micah looked at the paper. The address was Fleet Street 253.

"Monica" he began "there is no Fleet Street in Vegas."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah. "he answered with disappointment.

Hiro Nakamura was asked to teleport to a cemetery with a female agent. Then, she clicked on a flashlight and started to sneak around, looking for a grave between the many of them and the few trees surrounding the place.

"How will this save the world?" he asked. He was a bit afraid. Afraid of the dark, afraid of the situation he didn't know well enough.

But he got no answer, instead she whispered. "Here it is." She pointed on a grave with her light.

He stepped to the marble stone and read the letters carved into it.

Nathan Petrelli (1974-2007)

Son, husband and father

"Nathan Petrelli? Flying man?" he said weakly. "How could he die?" he whispered.

"He was shot." she answered coldly. "But with your help we can bring him back."

"Bring him back? How?" he was shocked by both the fact and her voice.

"I need you to teleport out his corpse then teleport us back to the facility." she instructed him.

"Why? He's dead now." he remembered his father. "Gone. Forever."

"You can't say that." she said. "He was a brave man. Someone who could save the world. We do need someone like him."

"You think he is more important to me than my father?" he argued. "If I didn't save Kaito Nakamura I will not save Nathan Petrelli, either."

"Well, we can make a deal about that. We bring back Nathan Petrelli and then we'll bring back your father, too."

Hiro was afraid. Can he accept a proposal like that? Can his personal love overwrite the bushido code?

"Will you help us, Hiro?" she asked. "All of us. Including your father."

He was confused. And then he said "Yes."

Hiro did everything he was told to. He teleported the slowly rotting corpse out and back to the Company's facility.

"Good." she said after they had laid down Nathan's body on the ground. Hiro has never a corpse before so his stomach was jumping up and down constantly.

The door of the room opened and two people entered it. Both looked like doctors dressed for a surgery. The first one was a small, old, bearded white man, carrying a metal bag and the second was tall, black and bald. The older doctor knelled down to examine the body and after that he opened the bag. There were several medicinal needles in it, filled with some red fluid, probably blood. The second man stepped to Hiro.

"You don't help?" asked Hiro from him.

"Yes, I will." answered the Haitian calmly and put his fingers on Hiro's forehead.

"Like it was ordered." said the agent. "Everything from the call of the boss."

Sylar was very, very confident. He easily got the address of the Butler family and could also get to their home easily. It was before noon and there was no car in front of the house so he thought nobody would be at home. Perfect. His appearance will be a perfect surprise for the family. He melted the glass on one of the windows and he jumped in. He was listening in every moment, he was like a carnivore looking for its prey. And then, he heard it. He heard heartbeats, strong and fast but probably not very close to him. He stepped closer to the stairs and the heartbeats became stronger and stronger. He stopped in front of the stairs. He heard someone dialing a phone number, but definitely not the police. He heard Claire saying something. She was probably talking to someone on the phone. So, she didn't have school, didn't she, he thought. Well, that might be a quite bad decision.

Suddenly, he heard something disturbing him. Some kind of a disharmony. After a few seconds, he had realized, he was hearing another heart, just as fast as Claire's. Getting closer and closer to him. Someone opened the door. The floor cracked a little bit as someone stepped on it. Sylar turned back in a split second and saw a small man with a few scars on his face, pointing a gun at him.

Sylar moved his hand and pressed him to the wall of the sitting room, then broke the gun apart.

"Who are you?" he grinned. "What are you doing here?"

"Screw up, madman." whispered DeFargau and spat him in the face.

Claire screamed upstairs and she started running down. Into the arms of fate.

"Now look what you've done." whispered Sylar. And, with a single move of his thumb, he cracked DeFargau's neck.

Nicholas just saw the slaughter of his partner, but with another scream on Claire's voice he managed to run back upstairs before Sylar could see him.

"Come down, Claire." he yelled. "For you, I'll make it quick and painless." He was sure that she can't escape now.

Suddenly, he heard glass breaking and someone falling down from upstairs. You had thought this would save you, he was thinking.

"What are you going to do now?" he heard a shocking voice. His own. "Huh? What are you going to do? You can't kill someone who's invincible."

"Yes, I can." he shouted. "She's not invincible. I'm the one worthy for that. I'm an overman!"

"You are nuts. You're a paranoid murderer."

"Who are you?" he shouted again. How could this be? How could he be stopped by himself? Now, standing just inches away from his purpose. What is happening to him? He was driven out of his mind.

"I am you." he heard a calm whisper.

Before he fell on the ground unconsciously he thought he could hear a watch ticking.