Chapter 6: Courage under fire

Noah was almost shocked when he noticed that he was not alone in his cell. The man lying on that bed was Claude Rains. And, as he was looking at his old partner, Claude began to wake up. Noah was so surprised he couldn't even move so he watched him getting conscious.

Claude seemed just as shocked as he was.

"Bennet?" he asked like he couldn't believe what he saw.

"Claude Rains." said him quietly.

He turned away for a moment then he burst out. "How did you find me?" He wanted to move but he realized that his legs were also chained just like in Noah's case. "Is this your damned move again?"

Noah lifted up his blanket and showed that he was also a prisoner. Suddenly something came to his mind.

"My new partner?" he whispered.

"What the hell are you saying?" asked Claude angrily.

"You're in the same cell with me..."

"And is that supposed to mean something?"

"The boss mentioned I'll get a new partner soon. Maybe it meant you."

"They're mad if they think I'm going to work for them again."

"Don't underestimate them." advised Noah but Claude didn't seem to be very interested.

"How did they managed to find me?" he whispered.

At that moment, Noah knew the answer. In fact he had a very strong guess.

"I think I know." he said.

Claude turned to him with excitement on his face.

"Do you?" he asked.

"There is someone who has the ability to find people, no matter where they are."

"Even if they can't be seen?" asked Claude.

"Naturally."

"Where is this man?" asked this with a greedy voice.

"I don't know. I don't know it yet." He didn't want to tell Claude that he was misled by him. He didn't know if he could be trusted. "But I can help you."

"With what? I'm the invisible man. I don't need any help."

"Yes, you do. Don't think they aren't ready for you. They know your abilities and despite that, they've brought you here. So you'd better expect IR cameras at every corner."

"I still don't see where can you help me."

"They might expect you to come but I don't think they would expect someone without abilities."

"And" he began "when you succeed, what do you want in return?" he asked, leaning towards Noah.

"Your help, of course. I'll cover you up and you help me cover up what I want."

He laid back and his face seemed calmer. He even smiled a bit.

"If you admit that they are ready, don't you think that this room is already on tape?" He laughed as his smile turned grim and desperate.

Sylar looked on the picture he had painted with a huge shock. Because it was made out of blood, it didn't have the best quality but he could see faces and objects out of it. In fact, one face that he had only seen once. The girl who had attacked him at Isaac's loft. And there was another figure in the picture, standing back to him. He could just see one arm of that figure. It was holding and firing a gun, pointing directly to the girl's chest. And he also saw a spot on her body and that she was falling backwards, losing her balance but holding out her hand to the other figure.

He looked at the painting not one, but several times. He was surprised he didn't find himself on it. But if he didn't, why on earth did he paint this? Where was he involved in this, why was this meaningful for him?

Mohinder was almost driven out of his mind. He had also seen Sanjog in his dreams once before this but that time his message was quite clear. In fact, this message didn't come into total vacuum, either. Mohinder was sure he had seen the stupa in his dreams before. He knew he had seen it, he knew it was in one of their books. And he wanted to know why did he see that temple. So he locked the door of his room, and slowly starting to throw every book down from their shelves. He has been working for hours when he finally found it.

It was an album, a simple album about the wonders of India, his homeland. And he saw directly on the cover page. He was so excited that he could hardly open the book to see what was the name of the place. It was called Dhemak Stupa and it was in the northern region of India.

Although Niki lost her sense of time a long time ago, she could feel that his saviors are late. She has just began to establish some kind of a biorhythm. She knew when she woke up, and she could tell how much time passed until they were coming. They came to her in the last two days but stress could be felt at any moment. Samuel was very cautious, strangely cautious, not just because he had to take care of his smaller brother – there was some deeper fear in his eyes when he looked at Niki.

Suddenly, the door began to creak. Niki turned there immediately and saw Abraham trying to get in her room without making any kind of noise.

"What..." she tried to ask but he showed her that remaining silent would be a better act.

"I came to help you." he whispered.

"Why alone?" she asked but he put his finger in front of his mouth again.

He grabbed her hand, as usual. It was now warm, even a bit hot. She could feel that something good is happening inside her. But she also felt something evil, too.

In this moment, the door opened with a huge bang.

"Get away from there!" yelled Samuel so loud that Niki's hand fell out of Abraham's as it turned weak. She looked up and saw that Samuel was holding a huge dagger in his hand, ready to hit her.

"W-why?" stammered Abraham.

"She's dangerous. I told you we're leaving tonight."

Something dark moved inside Niki as she heard these words.

"We can't..." began Abraham.

"Yes, we can if we want to stay alive." stated Samuel.

"I can help her..."

"No, you cannot! You haven't seen what I have. Her mind's dark and cursed."

"I can cure him. I can cure everybody."

"No!" interrupted Niki. "Get away! You're right. I'm fine. I'll get back."

"But you're not cured." said Abraham, turning to her and looking into her eyes. "You can't go away like that." Samuel's hand with the knife moved down. It seemed he didn't understand what Niki had said.

"Your brother's right." she whispered. "You can't cure this." As she looked at him, Micah came into her mind and he hugged him.

"He can't." said Samuel harshly and both of them looked at him. "But maybe I can."

Matt didn't know if Nolan Jefferson was able to hold out. The hospital where his daughter was lying in, made him feel like he was being tortured hard. And he didn't have to be a mind-reader to tell that. Nolan even asked once why they were here, although his mind had to be hold in strong chains. Luckily, none of the employees recognized him and he didn't recognize any of them, either.

They reached room 410. Both of the patients were sleeping, or in fact, they looked like they were. Nolan's excitement, anger and love raised during a split second. He ran to his daughter's bed and got down on his knees. Matt stepped there, too. Sabine resembled to Molly almost unbelievably, except her hair was dark. He tried to read Sabine's mind. He heard something, but it was like it was coming from far away. He thought he could hear the word "Daddy".

"Touch her." he said.

"What, man?"

"Touch her. She's waiting for you."

As Nolan touched his daughter's hand, the voice in Matt's head became stronger.

"I missed you." she said.

"She says she missed you."

"What the?" asked Nolan.

"Shut up." ordered Matt. "She's asking about your mother. Why don't you come together again?"

"How are you doing this?" he was amazed.

"Later. She asks why is your hand so silky? She knew it harder." He looked down and saw the spider silk-like material appearing at his hand.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

Matt didn't answer. He didn't want to say he wanted her to wake up. He saw how cruel Nolan's anger was, and he didn't know if he was strong enough to fix this. Looked like Sabine's problem was not in her mind, and if it was true, he could do nothing.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang and interrupted the conversation.

"Matt Parkman, NYPD." he said.

"Christian Kraft, LAPD." answered someone on the other end. "I'm glad to hear you're a police officer. I won't tell you good news."

He had a guess what this meant but he hoped that no murder happened. Because they used to say this in that case.

"Go on." he told Christian.

"You're ex-wife. Janice."

"What's with her?" he asked. He didn't want to show that he was shocked because of the name.

"Looks like she has been kidnapped."

Matt almost dropped the phone.

Peter was very confused during many days, during traveling to Austria. He was here, in the past, just a step away from his mother and what's he doing? Spying on her. He can't let her to see him. He couldn't imagine what effect that could have for her future, and for their present. She could get mad even. Although he knew her mother as a stronger person, he tried to imagine what would he imagine if this happened to him. Luckily, he couldn't do that really.

After his last attempt, he didn't try to read Angela's mind because he didn't know what might happen. Instead, he concentrated to Olivia but that didn't bring him too much results, either. She was very excited that she had been hired to the CIA (she had just began working there a few months earlier), and that she got such an experienced and admired partner. And she was excited that they were on a mission, such a mysterious one. Meeting with the Russians, their arch enemies, and the strange circumstances made this assignment even more interesting. For Peter, nothing really valuable. He didn't get new informations about Angela.

The situation didn't change much in Austria, either. Sometimes, they were just walking, looking around for possible meeting places or possible traps. They were quite easy to follow for someone with the abilities of Peter, but that didn't mean much.

The sun was just disappearing behind a huge mountain and it was getting darker and darker. Angela was still out while Olivia was sitting in their room, reading an Austrian newspaper. Peter was looking out of the window, looking for his mother to show up.

"Hey, could you repeat it?" shouted Olivia with a surprised voice. Peter turned back, but no one else was there. "Hey!" she shouted again, like someone who could be seen just by her.

In that moment, Angela opened the door.

"What's the matter?" she asked from Olivia.

"Nothing serious." she lied "I guess I was just starting falling asleep."

"Well, we can't let that happen again. We're on duty and we're reaching its end. We'll meet on Saturday, at the ball in the Harzheim castle. They called me and I've just got the invitations. What' wrong?"

"Did you say Harzheim castle?" Olivia asked with a shock on her face.

"Yeah, why?"

"You do remember how we got here, don't you?" she asked. "I think I received the same message like you in my head, just a few moments ago."

Angela's face started turning as white as Olivia's was.

"Hi, Molly." greeted Dr. Wang her, as she clumsily stepped in her room with a tray in her hands. "I've cooked for you."

Molly looked up smiling. "No octopus, OK?"

"No, of course. Although I don't know what do you like." Chicken with mushrooms didn't used to be the favorite food of children, and she wasn't a good cook but they shouldn't order pizza every day, should they, she thought.

"Well, Mohinder's was better." she said when she finished. Wang smiled. This was about what she had expected. She looked around in Molly's room and she thought if she could have had a room like this one. She had dreamed about it, trapped in rural China, and now here it was. Unfortunately, a bit late for her. She suddenly saw a photo about a small boy on her desk.

"Who's this?" asked curiously.

"Mohinder gave me this picture." answered Molly. "He wanted me to find him. But I couldn't."

"What should that mean?" she asked. She felt like something was waiting in her head to erupt.

"He's dead." stated Molly harshly. "I know there's no hope but I keep..."

"Could you come down to the lab?" she asked suddenly.

"Why?"

"I need something from you."

"No needles, please." she said.

"No needles. Just come, please."

They ran as fast as they could. Molly said something but Wang simply didn't hear it. Her mind was elsewhere. As they reached the lab, she sat to her computer. It didn't take a minute for her to find what she was looking for. On the monitor, there was an image of the Haitian from the Company's assignment tracker.

"Could you think about him?" asked Wang.

Molly seemed to concentrate.

"I can't find him, either." she said sadly. "But he's alive, isn't he?" she asked when she looked in the doctor's eyes.

"As far as I know, he's definitely alive. And he has an ability to block other's abilities."

"Welcome home." said an unknown woman to the Bennet family as she opened the door of the van.

"Where are we?" asked Sandra. "And who are you?"

"In Carson City, Nevada." she answered shortly. "My name isn't your business, just call me Ann."

"Why isn't it our business?" interrupted Claire.

"Because we won't meet again. Noah Bennet will return in a few days, to take care of you. I'm just here to give you the first instructions."

"If he' not here with us, then where is he?" asked Sandra.

"He and his partner are getting there instructions, too. But, let's speak about you. You'll regain the name Bennet. Luckily, it's quite a common name. Claire and Lyle Bennet are now pupils of the Carson High School. Noah Bennet will begin to work in a short time. Anything else will depend on him and his new partner."

So he won't be going with the Haitian, Claire thought. No more memory losses.

Then, Ann left, without any other word.

"Hey." said Lyle with a surprised voice as he looked on his watch.

"What's the matter?" asked his mother.

"What took them so long? It's March 23, and we had to travel only a few miles. What took them three days?"

Micah woke up with a bit of anger. It was the middle of the night and someone was shaking him.

"Hey?" he shouted. "What's the matter?"

"Quieter, please." whispered Monica.

"Monica, what are you doing? And what now?"

"I need your help, Micah." She looked very worried and a bit afraid.

"What's it?"

"I'll tell you on the way. Just get out please."

He did so as fast as he can. As they were going out, he watched Monica, her moves. He tried to move as quiet as she can. She was sneaking.

"What are you doing? I told you not to act like you were invincible." asked he outside the house.

"I know I'm not. I know I can't do anything. That's why I need you."

He definitely felt she had something to hide. Something that disturbed her.

"What's the matter?"

"I went to the police and asked about that man. They laughed at me. They said it wasn't my business. When I told them my story they laughed even louder. I was almost thrown out."

"So what do you want to do?"

"To get that data."

"How?" he raised his voice at this question.

"I need you to get it out of a police computer."

"What?! You want to break in?"

"Sneak in. I won't be taking anything I won't need."

Micah stopped and looked like he was hesitating if following her was the right choice for him.

"Please. I'll carry you in. And this'll be the only case."

He slowly stepped towards her and as she also started walking he followed her.

How foolish people can be, wondered Sylar. They simply believed him when he said he was from that non-existing magazine. They simply gave him a clear description about that boy, West Rosen. He knew what did he look like, even where was he having a lesson. But, despite that, he decided not to show up right after the bell rang. He was waiting until he saw West, heading out, looking lonely but a bit happy. He was free. But not for a long time, he thought. Sylar followed him to his car, patiently waiting for the right moment. He didn't want to attack in a place where everybody could see him. So, he didn't step in front of the car until he heard the sound of the engines.

"Hey, you freak..." yelled West as he saw Sylar but suddenly his voice lost its strength. He stepped out of the car. Sylar saw something in his eyes.

"Do we know each other?" he asked.

"Well, not really." he answered. "But I do know you. You're that Slayer guy."

Sylar gave him a grim smile. So he had already heard his name but he didn't realize what he was involved in. He didn't realize the danger. And he had to pay for that. West jumped towards him, grabbed him, and pushed him to the front of another car. But as he tried to turn to Sylar, West realized he couldn't move. He couldn't control his muscles, and he couldn't control his ability. He felt he was pushed into his car by an invisible force.

Sylar stepped into the car after him, closed the doors and froze the windows so nobody could see them.

"Before I kill you and take your ability "he whispered" you'll say my name properly. What is Sylar." And he began to cut West's head.

Hiro was even more shocked than he had thought before. Seeing a grave of a man like Nathan Petrelli was. Who always cared about others and helped them to save the world. He hardly cried.

"How did he die?" he asked.

"Three days ago, in the police station of Odessa, Texas, he was talking at a press conference organized by him and Matt Parkman. Someone from the crowd pulled out a gun, and shot him."

"Did they found the murderer?"

"Not yet. "he answered coldly. "But we're looking for him."

Hiro wasn't really listening to him. He was thinking about something else. If he could go back in time, he could help them. He could learn who was the killer. Just like he did with his father. He didn't want to change destiny, he didn't want to play God, but if everything goes planned, he won't.

He concentrated on the time Bob said and disappeared.

He didn't see anything but a huge flash of light.

He woke up in a different place. He was lying on a darkened floor.

"Freeze!" shouted a woman above him. He looked up and saw her. There wasn't anything extraordinary in her, except her hair was cut almost in her head so Hiro couldn't even decide what color did it have. And, more importantly, she was holding a huge machine gun in front of Hiro's face.

He tried to concentrate but somehow he couldn't teleport out of this situation.

"Your abilities won't work." she said. "We know that. We saw it. Now get your fat ass up and move. We don't have much time. We can't know if some of them are coming to you. Go!"