Chapter 13- Cain and Abel

"Ok, everybody." Matt said nervously looking at his charges. Spock had excused himself after delegating him as the lead investigator since none of the crew knew what they were looking for within the billions of terabytes of information available in the database. Spock felt the chore would get done faster if there were multiple teams working on the problem, so he assigned Sulu to take his place with Ando and to Matt's relief, another man named Scotty to work with Chekov so he could focus on directing the search. As he looked over the sea of eager faces, he felt as though he were conducting a roll call with his own little army of detectives. Take that, LAPD! "Ah, my name is Matt for those of you I haven't met yet. I used to be a cop, so this kind of thing should be pretty simple. What we are looking for is any information relating to Nathan Petrelli and his connection with people like us," he gestured to Hiro and Ando, "so maybe we can just start there."

The new man in the red shirt slowly raised his hand and asked, "What is it ya mean by 'people like us' exactly?" His accent was thick and it took Matt a minute to decipher it.

Sulu beat him to it by turning around to answer, "They are evolved humans. They can do stuff…" he gestured in a vague circling motion by his head, "with their minds…or something." Matt smirked because Sulu may not have realized that he had just called them crazy with his motion.

"Och!" Scotty inhaled wide eyed as he looked at Matt. "Is it true? Evolved humans?" Matt shrugged and gave a small nod. "Mon! But your kind was a myth!" He was clearly excited over this bit of news. "What can ya do? Do ya have superstrength or can ya walk through walls?"

"No." Matt answered patiently. "I read minds, Hiro is a time traveler, and Ando…is like a charger. He amplifies our powers."

"Like dilithium crystals and the warp drive?" He asked in amazement.

"Uh….sure." Matt quickly agreed. "Can we just get to work on this?"

Scotty settled in next to Chekov at his station and asked, "Why dinnae anyone tell me aboot this? This is a major happening and as one of the ship's commanding officers, Ah deserve ta know these things."

Chekov busied himself with accessing the database and casually replied, "Maybe it is because you hide down in the engine rooms vhere no one can find you like the domovoi."

"Whit in blazes is dom…" Scotty mumbled.

"Domovoi." Chekov coolly replied. "It is…like a spirit that lives in a house. They live under doorways and the stove. They always hide, but if they show themselves it means death is on his vay."

"Ah am no banshee, I can say." Scotty stated adamantly. "Ah like the engine rooms because it is a sight quieter than here with all the goins' on. When ya gonnae learn to speak without the accent? I cannae get ya."

"Vhat?" Chekov asked perplexed.

"Whit?" Scotty mocked.

Sulu looked past Ando at his station and laughed. They were forever teasing each other about their thick accents and it looked like today would be no different despite having guests. It wasn't exactly protocol to be so informal, but Scotty wasn't really one to follow regulations anyway. It was only because the man was a flat out genius he was promoted as high as he was- his carefree attitude and the misplacing of a certain beagle notwithstanding.

"I think I found something." Uhura called from her station with a worried look on her face.

"Yatta!" Hiro shouted until he read the screen. "No…no. It can't be!"

"What is it?" Matt asked making his way toward her. "What does it say?"

She cleared her throat and read in a strong, clear voice so everyone on the bridge could hear. "Senator Nathan Petrelli was arrested today by the FBI in his office at the Capital Building for suspected involvement in the disappearance and murder of his brother, Peter Petrelli of New York City. Mr. Petrelli was reported missing on August 23 by coworkers when he did not show up for his shift as a paramedic, which was said to be unlike him. His body was found six days later floating in the East river by tourists visiting the Brooklyn bridge. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide and reports from the autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the head. The body also showed signs of prolonged abuse, indicating Mr. Petrelli may have been tortured before his death.

Senator Petrelli had long been a suspect in the disappearance of his brother. Cell phone records show several calls placed to Mr. Petrelli's home and cell phones in the hours leading up to his disappearance, which the Senator has denied placing. New information released from the investigation revealed video evidence of the Senator in Mr. Petrelli's apartment several times after he had gone missing. The Senator had no comment as he was led down the steps in handcuffs to an awaiting patrol car. He is expected to be arraigned in a federal court in New York on Monday morning. He could face charges of kidnapping and murder. More charges are possible pending the outcome of the investigation."

Matt sighed heavily as he leaned on the console shaking his head. "That doesn't make sense. Peter is here, how could it be possible for Nathan to kill him?"

"Hiro must have taken him back." Ando almost whispered. "It is the only way."

"Ok," Matt said steeling himself, "two things: first- Hiro, you must never take Peter back under any circumstance. No matter what he says, no reason could be good enough. If you do, you will be taking a lamb to slaughter." Hiro slowly nodded in agreement. "And second- we all have to agree to never tell Peter any of this. As far as we are all concerned, it never happened."

"But what if he reads our mind?" Sulu asked in a worried tone. "He said he can do that."

"He can, but he won't." Matt assured him. "Peter is a boy scout. He uses his abilities, but when it comes to other people he respects their privacy and free will. It is bad enough he knows that Nathan is the cause of our disappearance, he doesn't have to know this."

Everyone in the room agreed and a silent pact was made. No one would breathe a word of what they knew to him because he had enough to deal with as it was. He no doubt felt tremendous guilt at being associated with the perpetrator of genocide without also knowing that he would become a victim and suffer a terrible death at the hands of his own flesh and blood.

In sickbay, Peter casually leaned against Jim's bed and folded his arms as together they watched Spock methodically approach Sylar at the far end of the room. "What the hell is he doing?" Jim asked sitting up next to Peter aghast. "Has he lost his Vulcan mind?"

"Dunno." Peter shrugged keeping a close eye on Sylar's nonverbal posture for signs that he would attack. "He just asked me to hang out. Well….in so many words I think that is what he said."

Jim chuckled. "Yeah, you'll get used to that."

Spock stood at full attention and came to a stop approximately three feet from where Sylar sat and gave a curt nod as a greeting. Sylar regarded him with something approaching apathy, but he made no overt move to acknowledge the strange being.

"Is it…" Jim asked cocking his head and squinting "is it me or do they sorta look alike?"

"Yeah, they do in a way." Peter laughed. "That's funny. Spock meets his evil twin." He again turned his attention to the two men talking. If Sylar was going to do anything, he would be quick about it and that wouldn't leave him much time to react, so he had to pay close attention.

"Hello, Mr. Sylar. My name is Spock and I am the first officer on the ship. I am also the science officer, responsible for all research that goes on aboard. I regret that you were not given an opportunity to be fully informed of the current project in which your friends are involved."

"They are not my friends." Sylar corrected in a low tone.

"Very well." Spock conceded. "As Mr. Petrelli had suggested, we are aiding in the discovery of your abilities. I understand you possess several which the others do not. Peter has agreed to demonstrate his abilities as an analog for you, however, for accurate data analysis we would require your participation as well."

"Would you?" Sylar asked mockingly raising his eyebrows. "And why would I do that?"

"Your reasons for or against participation are of course your own, but I believe that you are an individual who is most interested in his own self preservation at all cost. Am I correct?" When his counterpart failed to respond, he continued. "And whatever has caused the disappearance of your kind has or will claim you as well. It would stand to reason that no matter your affiliation with the others, the logical action would be to participate in the effort to halt the genocide in order to save yourself. Benefits of success to the others would be purely coincidental, but this would also be in your favor. To be the only survivor would deprive you of the powers you seek."

Sylar looked at the floor while he contemplated the green man's words. In the simplest of terms, he was of course right. As much as it disgusted him to cooperate with anything Noah or Mohinder was involved in, if doing so kept him alive it was the smart thing to do. But the last part of his statement stuck in his mind like an ice pick. Spock obviously knew that he was a killer, yet there was no sense of moral judgment- only cold rational fact. If he was the last man standing, there would be nothing left for him to acquire and this was simply unacceptable to him. The thrill of the chase was all he had left.

"You would, of course, determine to what extent you are willing to participate in the research." Spock assured him with authority. "You retain the right to refuse any aspect of the test sequence. But with your input we can better determine how your abilities are being exploited. I will leave you to decide which option is best." He again nodded and walked with purpose past Peter and Jim, confident he knew the outcome. He didn't need the ability to read minds to know which option he would choose.