Chapter 19: Healing

Healing is not an easy task, and that might be the reason why just few people choose the path of Hippocrates as a profession, as a purpose of life. And the others? They often forget that doctors aren't the only people who can heal. A smile, a laugh, a moment to share pain, it all helps our world to recover from its diseases. Some of us can take more, can spend more energy to do that. But this isn't the real question now. The real question is if we are ready, if we have the courage and energy to help others around us. It's just a drop of rain but without single drops even the greatest river would dry out.

This room was still very strange for Peter. It was something inhuman in it. There was no sign of life, and yet, it contained strings symbolizing many and many human lives, human fates. The door opened suddenly and as he turned back he saw Nicolai stepping in.

"Byron told me you will be here." he stated. "He said you wanted to see this room again."

Peter took his hands away from the dark gray string he had been holding.

"I came back here and I saw something about a man. From someone who is important in my life."

Nicolai's face didn't tell him any emotions.

"And before that, with your friend, Byron, I saw myself. And my abilities were working again and I was fighting. I came back here and I saw confusing things." He took a deep breath. "Can a monster fall in love?"

Nicolai afforded a small smile for himself.

"Even in the most mundane and in the most special moments, we are all human. And love is really a human need, isn't it?"

Peter looked back in the room.

"And what about you? What's your motive?" asked Peter. "Is it love again?"

"I just don't want to become a person like my father. And maybe you just have to face your fears to regain control of yourself. That would be something natural. Trust me, it will come soon."

"That's what I'm afraid of." whispered Peter. "I can't do anything alone."

"You are not alone." said Nicolai.

"You made a pretty big mess, you know." said Claude harshly. Since he was just invisible, not unnoticeable, he attacked a few security guards while couldn't be seen and punched them unconscious.

"I should say you made a big one." he whispered as they stepped in the elevator.

"I'm not talking about this. You shouldn't have brought her here."

"How many times will you say this?" burst out Mohinder.

"Until you don't get it. You can't know what does she mean to me. She was my best friend's sister, I've trained her, sometimes I feel that I made a tiny bit of her, and I protected her from these rats."

He took a breath because he was heaving.

"Are you finished? Because in that case, I will tell you what Molly means to me. I've fought for her life day and night, I managed to save her and I even took a part of raising her after his parents were killed because of what they were. I didn't want to drag Kamala into this again, but Molly Walker is like my daughter."

Claude's face fell. After a few seconds, he began to talk and his voice was deep and dark.

"You really made a very big mess. Now let's start cleaning it up! Try to deal with your friend in brains!"

As he spoke, the door of the elevator opened.

It took quite a long time for Claire and Noah to find the Haitian who was locked down in the cellar of the warehouse, drugged. He told them that he was attacked by someone whom he was believed to be Nicolai and that he was on a lonely mission. He talked to Noah a long time about the strange conditions of his mission, but after that he thanked them that they came to rescue him. Noah told him that he was sent back to the States and hopefully they will go with him, too. As Noah was driving them to the airport, Claire asked him because she was very curious about what he had said.

"Are we going back? Really?"

"The main objective of our mission was to capture Nicolai. If that bitch was right, and we presume that she was, he is in the United States. And in that case, there is no reason for us to stay here for even one more minute."

"You don't like this country, don't you?"

"Don't tell me that you do." he said.

Claire smiled. She thought about the last time she was smiling and realized that she didn't remember that time. Maybe, her father was right. She was not made to be a Company agent. She liked the world as pretty as it seemed, and she liked smiling and laughing, even if she had to cover her eyes sometimes. It was too much humanity in her that made her feel uncomfortable after the first few days, although she didn't know what it was. Now she had a guess, a good one. It was a good try but maybe her career as an agent will soon come to the end, especially that they had found Noah's old partner.

Suddenly, his phone rang, someone sent him a message. He picked it up.

"Get back to hideout. Assignment is there. Send the Haitian back." he read it out loudly. "Great." he added.

They dropped the Haitian at the airport and began driving back to their hideout.

A huge Yakuza, with over-body and shoulders like a gorilla, came in the room where Hiro and Kimiko were tied to each other. Hiro was still unimaginably tired, he was almost unconscious. The man noticed that, went away for a minute and returned with a huge bucket of water and flushed it on Hiro's face, making him awake.

"We know you have something to hide." he said with a very deep voice. "An ability that gives you true power. What is it?"

Hiro felt like he was going to black out again, in that very minute. He thought that his ability was a total secret to the world and he could keep his real identity, even if he is a superhero. He tried to teleport, he even made his cheeks wobble, but nothing had happened. The human gorilla was still standing in front of him. A terrible idea came to his mind. They might have taken it away. But if they did, he should never tell them the true nature of the ability. They might ruined history if they knew what he was capable of! And he couldn't let that happen.

"I'm strong. I can break through walls with my bare fists."

The Yakuza nodded, and left them alone, although he was yelling after him for minutes.

"Can you?" heard Hiro a whisper. It was Kimiko. She was awake. "Unfortunately, it might be useful now."

"No." answered he. "I could make ourselves get out of here but it isn't working."

"Then we are really lost."

Hiro was very surprised how easy she gave it up. It was not like her, her mentality, she never looked tired or showed that she was lost, even if she was a bit. It was not like a mentality of a woman growing up in the land of the samurai, in the land of Kensei, so much filled with their worship. But he couldn't say anything to fill her with courage.

Niki was afraid about leaving Micah alone with someone who she didn't know a word about. And she didn't see clearly Nathan's intentions either, when he called her away from the laboratory. He said they should leave the two of Micah and Wang alone so they could do what's necessary. Necessary – this word was a bit strange for her, especially that is was used related to her son. Yes, he chased Lazarus, because she felt that it was necessary. She couldn't have dealt with the shame if she had left him to walk away without any harm. At least, he hasn't got a real place to live now. But it was her business, not Micah's even if she couldn't have done that without him. And now, what did Nathan, who was still a foreigner, although a sympathetic one, want from him?

As they arrived in his office, he began to talk before she could ask anything from him anything.

"Do you remember when we were in an office like this last time? You had your power but someone tried to use you. Against me and against other people. Like a puppet."

"Why are you saying this?" she asked. "You can't use me again. I'm free."

"Of course, you are." he answered. His voice seemed tired. "But I ask help from you. Meaning your son, too."

"What does he has to do with this?" she asked hastily. This was the most important question.

He turned around and put a newspaper in front of her.

"All we can see in this world is disasters. A new computer virus arrived. No one can communicate with people in Hawaii, using electronic methods. A stock exchange collapsed in Hong Kong. No big deal, you can say. But imagine when this plague spreads all over the world."

He took a deep breath.

"When we were in an office last time, a little time after a person who had abilities just like you and me, took the challenge, elevated himself, fought and his courage won. He defeated the man who tried to use you. Unfortunately, he was late to save you but he saved many lives that day. I'm not happy to say this but at present, your son is in the same situation. If he isn't able to develop his ability and defeat this computer virus, our world will never be the same. It will be unstable and dangerous."

Another deep breath.

"You, me and your son. We are unique. We were given talent and we must decide the purpose to use it. You know we must heal the world. And if we don't even try to do that, I consider that a waste."

For many minutes, maybe even an hour, Micah just listened to the Chinese woman called Wang. She was talking about codes, features, defense methods and many more things. She was even drawing but he didn't understand much. He wasn't a programmer, he wasn't dealing with electronics, or mechanic things. All he was able to do was just instinct. He could talk to machines and even tell them what to do. But how could he speak to deaf – this was what she didn't understand. And that was why didn't speak the same language. What did people expect from him? Was he expected to be Neo and save the world? He always wanted to help, to save but now, he faced the enormous weight of that.

Yet, he decided to take the challenge. He sat down to the doctor's computer, laid his hand on it and concentrated. He thought harder than ever and he needed that. He tried to imagine that there was a wall to be broken, and only he had the strength to do that.

Suddenly, the world dissolved around him. He looked around, everything was glowing in various colors of the rainbow. There were numbers and letters all around him. He looked at his hands. They were still the same, he was wearing the same clothes as he was wearing in the real life. But he felt that this wasn't real. He could feel it like the living world but it wasn't living. He could touch the numbers and the letters but they were dry and uncomfortable. Maybe, he could be a hero really. He did the first steps, and those were maybe the most difficult to take. A jump for mankind, maybe.

Suddenly, he heard a terrible noise, a terrible roar. He turned round and saw a huge creature like a dragon behind him, formed from the elements of the cyberspace around both of him.

It roared again and pulled his long neck in, like a serpent before attacking. Then, in one simple moment, it tried to hit him. He didn't know if he would be fast enough but he tried to jump away from its beast-like head and its sharp teeth.

In the next moment, his body fell off the doctor's chair. He was unconscious but he was breathing slowly and quietly.

Maya was frightened, in fact very frightened. She couldn't understand herself, her motives, why was she following a man, a villain like Reginald Rios, such like a puppet, unable to move, bound to a charm or something like that. Now, they were standing up on a building's roof and he was looking on the road under them like an eagle. Like a predator, without any mercy shown. Just like he was or as he looked like. Suddenly, a few motorcycles appeared. He cracked his fists like was going to kill all of the riders with it. More motorcycles showed up, and, at last a limousine appeared behind them. It was so absurd that six or even more armed people on motorcycles were escorting someone in a monumentally expensive limousine, in the most hidden and poorest districts of the town. Like everybody knew what was going to happen, no one could be seen on the streets. Except the two of them.

"What was it? What did they want you to do?"

"What I'm best for." said Reginald with a curt nod.

As the riders were closing up to the house where they were standing garrison, he whispered.

"Now you all will see what are the powers of our mother Earth capable of."

He raised his fist and pulled it down again. In the same time, in only one single moment, an earthquake erupted under the car. The ground collapsed under it and it sank, earth just swallowed it up, with some riders, too. The others stopped as they saw what was happening but they weren't able to do anything about or against it. They simply couldn't understand what was happening in front of their eyes, it was just unbelievable.

Just like for Maya. Reginald moved his hand and the earth was like his puppet. When he finished, he lay down and pulled Maya with himself.

"Now what are you going to do?" whispered she.

"Give them someone to be blamed."

His hand started moving again and a huge wind caught her up. She was yelling and shouting but nothing helped. She landed on the ground in front of the bikers, but she wasn't injured. The guardians were moving fast towards her, so she put her hands up, and looked up to the roof. Reginald touched his lips with his hand and waved her goodbye.

This was the moment when everything broke in her. She couldn't hold the anger and the disappointment in her heart back. She closed her eyes and felt that they were going to blacken again. She started crying, not because shame or sadness but because of pain.

When she opened here eyes again, everyone around her was dead. She looked up on the roof but nobody was there. She looked down and from the clothes, she recognized someone who had been Reginald Rios when he was alive. She moved closer to him and saw that blood was leaking from his eyes and from his mouth. He probably collapsed and fell off the roof, she thought. The main thing was, that he would never wake up again, there was one villain less in the world. Deep in her heart, Maya knew that she would have done this much earlier, but she didn't have the strength and the courage.

Wind blew in her hair, and she looked up. She was in Latin-America again, where she was descending from, and she felt something like the feeling of being at home. She may have killed many people, many of them may have been innocent. She was a bit ashamed of herself, and she wanted to leave it all behind herself. And now, she had the opportunity. She stood up and started to walk away from the scene of her sin.

She moved as quiet as she could. Wiklum told her that nobody knows about the passage to the cellar except the Spirit Guide himself. She was lucky, because if she hadn't had her ability, she couldn't have passed through the small window that wasn't even opened wide. She opened a small trapdoor and saw someone. It was dark so she needed time for her eyes to get used to it. Someone was moving, making small moves. After a few minutes she realized that he was eating something. She tried to sneak in, behind him, because she was told that if he touches her with his hands, her fate is in his hands. But she didn't notice that there was a bucket under her and she kicked it, making some noise. He heard it, jumped up, ran behind the small table and then turned towards her. He looked in her eyes and she saw some anger in his fiery looks.

"Who are you?" he shouted. "How do you know about this?" He couldn't have been older than she was. Was it possible that he was the powerful Spirit Guide? Anger and bitterness came out from her soul in one minute.

"I'm here to stop that madness you're making."

"It's my revenge. If you knew…"

"Knew what?" she interrupted. "There is a war outside. My family died in it."

"So did mine!" he shouted back.

She had enough of it. She decided to capture him and show him what he had done. Before he could react, she jumped up on the table and before he could grab her, she jumped away, to the right and kicked him in his face.

He hit the wall and near of being unconscious, he stared at her with disbelief. Then, he fell and hit the floor.

Marie just stared at Gabriel with amusement. She didn't know him as a person who was just standing and waiting. She expected him to show more activity. But maybe, he had something more to do, a higher purpose. A few weeks earlier she wished if she knew someone who was gifted in the way Suresh meant it.

And now, Gabriel was here and she couldn't do anything with him. She couldn't study him and she didn't even dare to ask him about his life. He wasn't rude or anything like that, in fact, he was so calm that she didn't want to disturb him. She wondered what was he thinking about, especially after he had mentioned immortality. He really desired that and maybe she understood him. Seeing the future put huge weight on his shoulders. He didn't know if he could see something that he hadn't wanted. Maybe she was an accident like this. But no, it was destiny's hand in their accidental meeting. She definitely felt something more in him and towards him than pure interest.

Suddenly, her phone rang and made her forget about thinking. Someone texted her and she picked it up.

The message contained only an address. She didn't know that street or where it was. She showed it to Gabriel. At first, he also stared at it, surprised. Then, his face turned calm.

"We should get a map of the town." he murmured.

"Why?"

"This is the moment I have been waiting for." He looked at her. "You wanted to see someone with abilities in action?"

She nodded but now that she saw a maniac-like fire in his eyes, she wasn't so sure.

"You'll get everything you want." he said quietly.

Just after she had ordered the nurses to carry Micah to the medical facility and treat him well, another man, dressed not like a nurse, instead like a single company agent called her away and this event made her forget everything. Now that Petrelli was in charge, everything became really unstable and therefore she didn't know what she could have expected from this person, this messenger.

"We've got a special package for you, Doctor." he said. His voice was dry and emotionless.

"From who?" she asked, surprised.

"From Russia. The Bennets' mission."

She hadn't known that Bennet had been sent back on track again, so she stared at the man, but for a long time he didn't say anything.

"Just go down to your laboratory." he began in the end. "It's been carried there."

She became immediately shocked from what she saw. Her package was a middle-aged man, lying on a hospital bed and being constantly sedated with a drug. Beside him, there was a file with only one sheet of paper. She took it with shaking hands. There were three words on it: Villain. Ability: Telekinesis.

In a second, she understood what did she have to do, although she wasn't really sure she really wanted to do that now. Speaking about killing someone and really doing it, taking somebody's life were two different things. But if he was a real villain, she would really do good. Both with the world and with her own scientific research. She was just afraid what would this experiment turn her to. But, she took a laser knife and began to slice the man's head open.

On the second floor, Claude and Mohinder fortunately didn't find any guards. It was nice and warm, looking like a block of flats from the inside but from the expensive ones. But that didn't raise their interest. They ran to the room which Mohinder remembered was Molly's one. As they broke in, she was playing with some of her toys. As she saw Mohinder, her eyes opened wide from surprise.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as he ran towards her, grabbed her and took her up from her bed as calm as he was able to.

"Come on" he said in a hurry "it's not safe for you to stay here."

"Where else could I go?" she asked, with a sad voice.

"Where you're not used."

"I'm not going to be used." she replied, her voice stubborn. "And I'm not going anywhere without Matt. He's going to be my new father." she added.

"Your new father?" asked Mohinder.

"Yes." said a voice behind him. He surely didn't notice that Matt had entered the room. "And what are you doing here, Mohinder? Why did you run away? Tell me."

"Stop!" he shouted. "Don't read my mind."

"I'm not going to do that unless I have to." said Matt calmly. "Just tell me."

"I'm just trying to save her."

"From what?" asked Matt with disbelief.

"From being used as a weapon. As an instrument to find people and help them being caught. Rounded up."

"They're bad people."

"Not just all of them!" shouted Mohinder. He didn't care about how many people would hear him. "They tried to hunt me down."

"Slow down! I'm sure they weren't."

"Ask her! Ask her if she was asked to look for me."

Both stared at her as she slowly shook her head.

"You see." said Matt immediately.

"No. I won't let her become the victim of their greed."

Matt stopped and closed his eyes. After a moment, he opened them again.

"Who did you bring..." He couldn't finish the question as he moaned and collapsed.