Chapter 9: The sins of yesterday

"No!" shouted he, but his thoughts were louder for Matt, for his mind.

"Nathan. Nathan Petrelli. Revived. Three floors down, in a cell. The cell is locked. The code..." The mind speech has gone silent. Instead, he heard that somebody has just half-cocked a gun behind them.

Both Nolan and Matt turned back. The Haitian was standing in the door of the office, pointing his gun at Nolan.

The only moment when nobody was looking at Bob was enough for him to pull his pistol out of his suit and place it beside Matt's neck.

"Shall we talk after we've calmed down, Mr. Parkman?" he asked quietly.

"OK." said Matt. "Please, Nolan, put down your weapon."

"You made me a promise, don't you remember, Matt? You promised me help." hissed Nolan.

"Yes, I remember." he said. His voice was very tired. "But, at the moment, I need help, too."

"What kind of help?" interrupted Bob.

"It's not your business!" shouted back Matt.

"Now, let's see." began Bob with a calm voice. "You've brought this man called Nolan here. So it's just as my business as it is yours. And, even more, you know that Nathan Petrelli is alive. I'll show what's in my hand."

"Not with him around" argued Matt, pointing to the Haitian. "If he's around you'll tell lies for me."

Bob took a deep breath.

"Nathan Petrelli was resurrected, using the blood of an individual with regenerative powers."

"Why is he hidden?" he interrupted.

"I don't know if he can be trusted."

"And this is the way you'll learn it?"

"Because I don't have abilities like you do, I have to make extreme measures."

"What's your plan with him?" he asked. "This company did bad things and he tried to fix it. That's why he had to die?" asked he with raised voice. "You killed him, to remain hidden, and then revived him to do your bidding?"

"No, we didn't. We're looking for the assassin in this moment, too."

"What about my daughter, assholes?" shouted Nolan. "Her life is at stake."

"And how much more..." sighed Bob.

"That's why I brought him here." said Matt. "His daughter has been living in coma for years, if somebody needs that damned blood, then she does."

"Why? Why does she deserve it?"

Nolan jumped towards Bob, but the Haitian moved faster and shot him in the leg and he collapsed. Matt turned back, and pointed his gum at him.

"It'll just make him sleep a while." interrupted Bob. "Why are you doing such things, Matt? You're a good man. A policeman."

Slowly, Matt turned back again, looking at Bob.

"His family is at stake. Just like mine. My ex-wife has been kidnapped and I don't know why. I have to find out. I can learn things that ordinary people never could."

"Then where do you need help?"

"I won't bring him with me."

"Why do you want to leave him here?"

"Where else?" asked Matt.

"You've said his family is at stake. Let him deal with it."

"He's a murderer! I can't let him go back to normal life."

"Why can't you? You can make anybody do everything."

"I've said I'm not my father." sighed Matt. "There are some things I can't do."

"I see you're not." whispered Bob. "I'll help you. I'll give you some of the blood. Go after your own business."

Shortly after the affair in Austria, Angela quit from the agency. But Peter thought he haven't seen everything yet. There was one more thing that disturbed him about this. He tried the power of freezing time and it worked. So he sped up time, and watched what happened in their house. Sometimes he stopped and listened what his parents were talking about. It was weird for him, to see them – especially his father – so young, doing so cruel things. And then, one day, the thing he was waiting for, happened. They planned the murder and the travel to Russia. Naturally, they could ensure that their journey will remain a secret. He didn't wait for them to land, instead he teleported to the location found in Linderman's mind.

He looked around in the house. It was neatly equipped, although a bit old-fashioned with the old marble stairs and the chandeliers. It was like it carried a small piece of the castle's aura. He saw the man, Konstantin just having lunch with a kid who was about four. He looked at them, but remained invisible. They were talking, they were laughing, and after lunch, they were playing toghether.

Suddenly, there was a terrible boom. Konstantin looked at his son.

"Go Nicolai, go away!"

There were stairs, leading from the living room up to the first floor. Nicolai ran up it and Konstantin went out to see who has come.

"Angela Petrelli." he hissed. "I hoped we would never meet again. You've come here to die and you know that. Just one word..." In the next moment, he collapsed with a terrible shout.

"You won't have that word." whispered Arthur Petrelli as he appeared beside his wife. Linderman stepped in, brought a chair, put the still crying Konstantin on it and bound his hands.

"You've talked about several others like you." began Angela. "Tell me, who are they. And where can we find them?"

He didn't look at them, he was just staring in front of him. Then, Arthur closed his eyes and Konstantin began to scream again. Tears appeared in his eyes, the tears of pain.

"I won't become a traitor." he yelled.

"You don't have to become one." whispered Angela. "You already are. You'll just finish it."

Konstantin cried again. He needed a few seconds to breathe normally and to speak.

"Just because you can cause pain, you think you..." Arthur began to torture him again.

Peter couldn't move, even if he wanted to. He was shocked, depressed about the cruelty of the persons who loved so much.

"Tell me!" ordered Angela although it wasn't sure that Konstantin heard it because of his own cry. After it was finished for that time, he could hardly breathe.

"What will you give me?" he asked.

"Your life. Tell me! Who are they?"

"Joachim Schelle, Leipzig." he moaned the first name. "Oleg Siviliyov, St. Petersburg. Pavel Shirko, Brno. Dimitar Kramenko, Kazan. Roman Houdnov, Volgograd. Anatoliy Emiksazde, Tbilisi. Muhammad Batsur, Aden. Oleksiy Yavtshuk, Donetsk. Marcin Lazarowski, Warsaw." He sighed as he finished. "These are all the names I know. And now, will you let me go?"

"Daniel, Bob" said Angela "do what we've talked about. Thank you, Konstantin."

Linderman punched Konstantin so he became unconscious. Bob started to carry some tanks into the house. Then, he sprinkled oil out of it and Linderman put some money, jewelry in a sack, and just in the last minute, a photo of the kid. Just before Arthur dropped the match to ignite the oil, Peter saw the picture and Nicolai came into his mind. He stopped time and looked for him but he didn't found the boy. After he looked for him in the whole house – as far as he knew – he teleported away from here. He have seen enough. And even more.

Sandra Bennet opened the door as someone was knocking on it.

"Noah!" she cried and she fell into the hug of her husband. "Where have you been?" asked she, on the brink of crying.

"There were some misunderstandings."

"Misunderstandings?" asked Claire harshly as she appeared, too. "We've been almost attacked and you talk about misunderstandings?"

Noah looked at his daughter and saw the pain and anger in her eyes.

"I cannot do anything when I'm put into a cell in chains." he said.

"What?" asked Claire, Lyle and Sandra in the same moment.

"Go in." he advised. While he was pulling down his coat, he began. "I didn't follow the Company' s orders so they caught me. Because I wanted to be near you. But now, the orders will be much easier to follow."

"Why?" asked Sandra.

"Because I'm ordered to protect you?"

"Meaning us or me?" interrupted Claire.

Noah took a deep breath.

"The Company's concern is you, and only you, Claire. But I'm not a puppet of the company any more. I'm going to keep us all safe."

Silence fell for a minute, or maybe two.

"I'm so glad to see you home again." whispered Sandra and hugged her husband again. "I'll warm up the dinner." said she and she left.

"Dad." whispered Claire, turning back to her father again. "Who's your partner on this assignment?"

"I can handle this alone." he answered calmly.

Claire looked like she couldn't believe what she had heard.

"How? This is Company policy." she said. "One with abilities, one without them. It's like this all the time."

"I told you." whispered Noah. "I can handle this alone. Let's go and see what have your mother cooked." he said as some sweet aroma filled the room.

Wang was was almost stunned when she saw Mohinder back in the lab. She expected him not to come back to work so early, just a few days after his mother's death. As usual, he leaned over a microscope.

"Do you always work at night?" she asked as she looked on her watch. It was a few minutes before 8 am and there was quite a mess already.

"I've just got back and I thought I might make up my arrears."

"Well, it was natural." whispered she. "Did you sleep?"

"On the plane." answered Mohinder hastily.

"Did you find something that you're so obsessed about?"

"Totally nothing, and that's why I'm obsessed."

"Because maybe I did." stated she calmly.

"What?" exclaimed Mohinder.

"You cured a man in Haiti." began she. "You don't remember but that's not the point. This man has the ability to disable the abilities of others. That's why he became one of the main points of our research..."

"And I didn't even meet him again."

"No, Dr. Suresh, because he disables abilities through some kind of mind manipulation. We can't really use it, and if we can, the results are just temporary."

"Then why did you mention him?"

"His ability might not be totally unique." She pulled Nicolai's photo out of her pocket. "This boy might also have an ability like this. Maybe his ability is some kind of DNA alteration. But..."

"But?" asked Mohinder impatiently.

"But maybe not. Molly can't find him. It should not cause DNA alterations from miles away, should it?" She seemed to think about it.

"Whether it does or not, our boss wants us to find this boy." said Mohinder. "Even if he won't take us to the next level of our research."

For all they have done, Niki gave the boys something they could hardly thank for enough. She gave them some money. First, Samuel tried to refuse but she said that she wouldn't be able to keep it after all this time. So they've accepted it, and they have permitted some luxury for themselves: instead of looking for food in garbage, they both went to a store, with a wide smile on their faces. They've bought some cans, canned beans and meat and even some chocolate, too.

They wanted to pay when someone broke into the shop. Samuel pulled Abraham to the ground as one of the guys stepped to the cashier.

"Gimme all your damn money!" the taller robber shouted. "You stay there!" yelled he on Samuel and Abraham, pointing his machine gun directly on the latter. The next moment, hell broke loose. The cashier pulled a small gun from the counter in front of him, and shot the guy directly in the chest. All the weapons were roaring and the boys were so frightened that none of them could keep his eyes open. Samuel opened his ones after he heard nothing for some minutes. And he was shocked form what he saw. His brother was lying in his arms, like before, but his T-shirt was soaked with blood. And moreover, he was heaving. Samuel looked on him. Abraham was shot in the chest, more than twice. He looked around and saw the tall, now dead guy's gun in their direction. The bullets might have come from that weapon.

"Abe! Abe!" shouted Samuel. Abraham tried to move his hand but he was too weak. Samuel helped him and leaned it on Abraham's chest. "Come on." he whispered.

"No." murmured Abraham. "I can't. It doesn't work with me." He took a deep breath. Samuel shouted around in the shop for someone who could call an ambulance but seemingly no one was there alive.

"Someone! Help! He's wounded."

"Sam!" he heard his brother's weak voice and turned back. He never used to call him that. "Don't worry. I'm with dad." These words made Samuel cry. And these were Abraham's last words. He didn't know how long has he been there, but he left immediately when he heard the police sirens. He couldn't let the police find them. So Samuel pulled his brother's small, cold body out of the shop and disappeared in their cellar.

"Don't you like Latin-America?" asked Ann from Maya a few hours after they had landed in Bolivia. She didn't like it, didn't like the heat, the burning sunshine and the humid air that made her sweat.

"I had to left messily." gave Maya a short answer.

"Have you ever been here?" asked Ann again.

"No." Another curt answer. "What will we do?" asked she, after a few minutes of silence.

"First, we go to Rios' residence. We'll look for anything important."

"And if we don't find anything?"

"Then, it'll turn messier. We'll start looking in morgues and cemeteries."

Maya gulped.

"I didn't like it either, but I have to follow orders."

"Why?" asked Maya, but Ann didn't answer.

"I didn't know your ability at all." She stated instead.

"It's really nothing." answered Maya.

"But what? I know you have one. What's that? Do you shoot lasers, do you see through walls or what? Or are you telekinetic?"

"What's that?"

"Can you move things with your mind?" This expression ignited a flame in Maya and she felt the anger in her heart.

"Wha-at?" moaned Ann as her eyes began to turn black.

Maya thought about his exercises and stopped her ability quickly.

"You call this nothing?" asked Ann, still looking for air.

"It's evil." stated Maya.

"You'll better get used to it. We'll probably meet evil people, too."

Claire's first say in school was simply nothing. Nothing really different from her other first days. She thought she might be a record-breaker in having the most first days in school in a year. Unfortunately, this wasn't in the book of records and these changes wasn't legal at all. Then, she saw him. She could hardly forget that face. Besides the school, there was a playground with no children there now. And, Nicholas was sitting on one of the benches. There were some earphones in his ears, but despite that, he definitely notice Claire, stood up and walked towards her. She didn't know what to do so she didn't move until he reached her.

"Hi." he greeted her.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" she asked. In fact, she didn't expect to see him ever again.

"Why? Isn't it forbidden for anyone to sit on a playground bench and listen to Billy Talent?"

"No, it's not, but you weren't just sitting here and, additionally, you're not anyone."

"You think?" he asked and he smiled on her.

"Where's your partner? DeFargau or what?"

He moved closer to her and soften his voice to whisper.

"He's dead."

"What?" shouted Claire.

"He's killed. Sylar did it." he whispered.

"Then, how are you here?"

"I managed to get away. We follow orders, you know. I was ordered to run."

"You were the one in danger." she whispered. She looked worried. "How do you know I'm here? Do you work with my father now?"

"Yeah." he answered quickly. "I do. I 'm just getting used to his working methods."

"So you're gonna be my guardian?" asked Claire with a wide smile.

"We protect and serve." he said, using an unknown voice, probably a police officer's one.

"I hope it isn't forbidden to have a cup of coffee with your assignment." she said, still smiling.

"Wherever you go, I'll be with you." he said.

Suddenly, her phone rang. She looked on it. West. And suddenly, everything came to her mind. The boy who she had loved. The boy who took her to Hollywood, who made waffles for her, the boy who could fly. His former guardian. Her guardian angel. She picked up the phone.

"West?"

"Bad guess, Claire." hissed someone.

"You're not West. Who are you?" she asked.

"Your truest admirer. If I would know where you were I would fly directly to you. Because I want something from you..."

"Sylar?" shouted Claire.

"Good guess..." At this point, she put the phone down and burst into tears. West was dead. Sylar killed him just like he killed DeFargau. Nick tried to hold her but that was impossible.

"You must talk to dad. We've got to get him." stated she after she could calm down. "And this time, I'll be the bait."

"I can't let that." whispered Nick and they hugged each other.

"Can you inject her?" asked Matt when they've arrived to the hospital.

Nolan nodded.

"Good." said Matt and gave the syringe containing Claire's blood to him. "I won't be here when she wakes up." He shook Nolan's hand.

"And then what?" asked Nolan.

"Go back to your family." he sighed. "I have to deal with my own."

"Good luck, Matt." he murmured. "Thank you and if you need me."

"I'll call you. And good luck for you, too."

Matt turned around and walked away from Sabine Jefferson's room. He definitely needed luck and lots of it.

"What were you doing in there after all?" asked the white, bald police officer from both Micah and Monica. They didn't say a word. They've arranged this before, during their short time in a cell of the New Orleans Police Department.

"You're just making your situation worse. You're the luckier one, Mr. Sanders." Micah smiled. He hasn't been called Mr. Sanders yet. "You can get out of this with spending the rest of your childhood in a penitentiary. But you, Miss Dawson. You can stay in jail for quite a few years."

Suddenly, the room's door opened and three people stepped in. One of them had a police badge. The others were recognized by Micah, although he didn't see any of them many times. One of them was Japanese and visited his mother before his father had come home. The other one was smaller, white and he saw him at Kirby Plaza. Micah knew that he could fly but he didn't say it.

"What's this?" asked the officer who was talking to them before.

"The money is bailed." answered the other officer.

"What? That much?"

"Yes, that much." said the flying man curtly. "Can we take them?"

"Go on." said the police officer and opened Micah's and Monica's shackles.

They weren't treated like criminals. This was both strange and comfortable for Micah.

In front of the police station, the flying man leaned down to Micah and asked him.

"Are you Niki Sanders' son?"

He nodded.

"Boy genius, aren't you? You might be intelligent, but you should learn to use it wisely. We won't be there for you every time. Where's your mother?" he asked.

"She's dead." Micah whispered.

Both of the men looked shocked. After a few minutes of silence, the Japanese guy sounded.

"I'll bring him home." he said. "Take the girl with you."

"We're partners, Ando. We both bring Micah home. And then, we'll explain everything to Monica's family." So, all of them got in the men's car.

Noah has just closed his future office's door when Claude appeared from nothing behind his back.

"Let's go see what's been cooked!" said he with an ironic smile. "Mate, is this your best excuse? Because if it is, you're getting old for this job."

"Shut up and tell me why are you here."

"Mate, life is going on pretty fine with your little daughter."

"Tell me."

"She met a young blond idiot who tries to slip in my shoes."

"Meaning what?" asked Noah.

"Meaning he lied that he's working with you to protect him."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." he shrugged as he said this.

"Keep an eye on him, won't you?"

"I can't clone myself, mate. But that's not all."

"I'm excited."

"A guy called Sylar called her."

"Called her?" Noah was totally shocked.

"Yeah. On her cell phone. What does that mean?"

"That means you should do some exercises."

Silence fell for a few seconds.

"That was my part, Bennet. Where is yours? Where's the Walker girl?"

"You didn't expect results in a day, didn't you?"

He shrugged again.

"I said that was babysitting was my dream job. But anything can make you bored? Even your dream job. Get it, Bennet?"

"Yeah. I get it." answered Noah.

Samuel opened the door of Niki's room and there was no doubt that he was angry and disturbed in his mind.

"We're done." he answered curtly. "Go home."

"What happened?" she asked. Then she saw that his clothes were soaked with blood and his face was wet, too.

"Abraham can't cure it?" she asked.

"Get out!" he shouted. She started going out but he yelled "He's dead. He could cure everyone except himself." He burst out in tears again. Niki hugged him, trying to protect him from some of the pain. This wasn't the time of words, and she didn't say any. She just held him in her hug. After he calmed down a bit, he took a huge knife out of his trousers and gave it to her.

"If I keep this, I might become really dangerous." he said. "Keep it and go away."

"You could come with me." she offered.

"I have something to finish." he stated and there wasn't any insecurity in his voice.

"If you change your mind, where will I find you?" asked Niki.

"In the news." he whispered.

"I won't leave until I get any news about my brother." stated Kimiko Nakamura, standing in Bob" office. "I don't matter what do you do, I don't matter how do you pay down that idiot Ando, I don't matter your call list, I know that you know more about my brother than you say."

"I can only say the things I've said before, Kimiko. I'm looking for Hiro as hard as you do."

Suddenly, something appeared out of thin air and fell on the office's floor. Kimiko was the first to reach to it, and she had to realize that it was Hiro.

"Hiro." she called her brother. "Wake up."

He just moaned. He looked up on his sister and his face fell back on the ground.

"Am I still at Yamagato?" he asked quietly.

"No" answered Kimiko. "You're at Hartsdale. Do you know where it is?"

He jumped up immediately.

"The Company?" he asked but he didn't need an answer as he saw Bob.

"Bob, Bob, listen to me." he spluttered. "We need to evacuate..."

"Hiro" interrupted Kimiko. "Do you know this man?"

"Yes. He called me to visit Nathan Petrelli, a friend of mine."

"So you didn't made a call to Japan?" shouted she at Bob.

"Not now. We have to get everyone and everything out of here as fast as we can. Bad people will come here."

"What do you mean bad people?" asked Bob. "We're well protected."

"Not well enough." stated Hiro. "Nicolai..." he began but he didn't remember the name properly.

"Nicolai Starnov?" asked Bob.

Hiro nodded enthusiastically as he recognized the name.

"Then, Angela was right. And as well as you, Hiro. If he's alive and we can't find him, that means trouble. Big trouble."

Peter appeared in their apartment. Now, it was cold and lonely since Nathan didn't live here.

"Mom!" he called.

"I'm here." answered she, coming down on the stairs. "You look like you saw a ghost."

"Because I did." he said, with his voice full of anger. "I saw the ghost of the past. I saw things you would never believe."

"I'm listening to you." she said calmly.

"In fact, I lied. You would believe. You must believe, you must accept what you were."

"What?" asked Angela.

"I learned much. I saw you. I saw what you were. Both you and dad. I saw what have you done. I saw how you tortured Starnov, I saw you. You're all like Linderman. You could do anything to win."

"It was war time." stated Angela. "We had to protect ourselves."

"I saw you were monsters. The problem is, you didn't change. You could have sacrificed me."

"Peter..."

"Don't! You could have let me become the destroyer of New York. After all you've done, after your evil plans, after your murders and tortures, how could you look into a mirror?" He raised his forefinger and noticed that it is slowly getting red.

"You were monsters. All of you." he stated.

"Does it change anything?" said Angela. "Does this change that I'm your mother?"

"It does change my thinking. About my parents. About the world. About everything I believe in and everything they believed in."

"Peter..." she sighed. He didn't really listen to her, just disappeared. "Peter!" she shouted. "No!"

She heard that someone knocked on the door.