Chapter 14- Revelations

Peter smirked at Sylar as he stood next to him in the sickbay. He didn't know what Spock had said to him to get him to agree to testing, but there he was. In a way, Spock had managed the impossible by getting him to cooperate. Getting Sylar to do anything was like herding cats and both he and Noah were in awe of Spock's apparent power of persuasion although he assured them he had no such ability. "Glad you could join us." Peter quipped.

Sylar glared down at him and replied, "I am not here for your benefit, Petrelli. I couldn't allow them to assume your powers were equal to mine because we both know that isn't true." Peter rolled his eyes at the backhanded compliment.

"Gentlemen," McCoy called as he approached with Spock, "thank you for allowing us to gather data on your abilities." He paused and gave an uneasy look at Sylar who in turn gave a small sardonic smile just to unnerve him. McCoy didn't like him one bit and saw no reason to hide that fact. No one raised hell in his sickbay but him and to threaten his staff was crossing the line. "Spock will be assisting me with the testing process. We have set up some experiments that will measure any physiologic changes that occur when you use various powers. But in order to do that, we first have to hook you up with wireless electrodes." He placed a bowl of small adhesive pads on the bed between them and ordered them to remove their shirts. Peter happily followed along, grabbing and sticking the devices to his skin in such a manner that made McCoy observe "You look like you have done this before."

"To other people, yes." Peter admitted using two finger widths to the left of the sternum to correctly place one over his heart.

"You a doctor?" McCoy asked with a squint. "You had that old stethoscope when you came."

"No." Peter chuckled. "I am a paramedic. I was a nurse before that." As if the other nurses in the area weren't enamored enough with him as it was, that little bit of information sent them twittering and it was McCoy's turn to roll his eyes.

"I was just a murderer." Sylar smirked because no one had asked him. He was also applying his own pads, but he was doing so because he didn't want anyone touching him. It was a rule he had almost always lived by: he didn't touch his victims and he didn't want anyone touching him. It was a personal preference that he liked to strictly observe, a tough habit when you lived in a densely packed urban area like New York.

"You were a watchmaker." Peter reminded.

"A droll and soul sucking existence." Sylar mused. "I think the career change did me good." Peter simply shook his head because he wouldn't expect anything less from him.

Once both men were outfitted, a quick test showed all electrodes working and a baseline was established for Sylar by reconciling his previous data with measurements of blood pressure, respiration, and neurological activity in a fully alert state. Spock dutifully recorded all of the data points into his electronic clipboard and Sylar was somehow strangely relieved that the green man seemed to be assigned to him. He disliked McCoy almost as much as Mohinder and he was sure it would all end badly soon after testing began the first time he opened his mouth.

"There are some things you won't want them to demonstrate for you." Noah warned from the sidelines. "Radioactivity being chief among them unless you want to be fried to a crisp."

"We have a system in place for that." McCoy mumbled as he readjusted one of Peter's electrodes. "Scotty is going to help us since he is the man in charge of the ship's drive system. Breaches can happen and when it does it is nasty. He has the equipment to safely test it." Noah shrugged. It was their skin, not his. "Ok. I have a list of your abilities, Sylar." The taller man raised his eyebrow in a mocking manner that made McCoy want to attack him with a hypo, but he let it slide. "Peter, what can you do that Jack the Ripper here can't?" Sylar narrowed his dark eyes at him but he ignored it.

"Uh…let's see." Peter commented as he thought about it. "I can become invisible, read minds, and I can also fly. There is one other power that I have, but it is glitchy and doesn't work very often. Sometimes I can dream about the future, but as Hiro and Noah can tell you it isn't very helpful since the future can change at any time."

"Got that one from Mommy?" Sylar asked lightly. "Seems to work real well for her."

"Don't talk about my mother, Sylar." Peter warned.

"Like she has such high honor to defend." Sylar continued. "How many times has she sold you and Nathan out to further her own twisted agenda? You know she wanted you to blow up New York, Peter. She wanted you, her own precious son, to be the death of millions. Did you know that when you were off saving the world from the Shanti virus that she told Matt to kill you if you failed? What kind of a mother does that?"

Peter turned to face Sylar and replied in a low tone, "I don't know, Sylar. Why don't you tell me? What about your mother? Did she deserve to die and have her blood used to paint a picture of the city blowing up? What did it feel like when you stabbed her in the chest with the scissors? What did you feel when she looked you in the eyes as she was dying?"

Sylar was momentarily speechless. He didn't think he knew the details of his mother's accidental death and the truth was, he tried very hard not to think about it because while she was not his first victim, she was the only one that haunted him still. He simply wasn't expecting Peter to go for the jugular. McCoy turned to Noah and hissed, "He killed his own mother?" Noah just shrugged and nodded while Jim watched in horror. It wasn't his job to air everyone's dirty laundry.

"If we may concentrate on the task at hand." Spock cautiously interjected. He knew very well how hurtful personal attacks on one's maternal ties could be. "The both of you share the abilities of telekinesis, regeneration, radiation, and electric shock. Is this correct?" Both men slowly nodded, but were still simmering under the surface. "Then I think it wise to begin testing these factors first. We shall begin with telekinesis. You will be escorted to the cargo bay where you will be asked to move increasingly heavy objects until a limit is reached."

"This should be fun." Sylar mumbled. "Don't bother going, Peter. Never send a boy to do a man's job."

"Whatever." Peter huffed pulling his shirt back on.

Noah left the group along with Jim to check on the progress of Matt's crew. "Did he really kill his own mother?" Jim asked in awe.

Noah removed his glasses and sighed. "He did, but as I told you he was different then. I believe it was more of an accident than intentional- he wasn't as jaded as he is now. She was perhaps the only person in his life that truly cared, but it wasn't exactly a healthy parent/child relationship. I think she knew how smart he was and she pushed him to be something more to the point that it wouldn't have mattered if he won the Nobel Prize, cured cancer, and eradicated world hunger all at once, it wouldn't have been enough."

"So do you think they will be safe down there?" He wondered. "It looked like he and Peter have a little animosity going on."

"They will be fine." Noah assured replacing his glasses. "I was surprised that Peter stepped up like he did, but Sylar won't exact revenge. At least not yet. Despite what happened earlier, Sylar is the kind of guy who does not like having an audience. If he and Peter are going to have it out, they will do it in private."

The two men stepped onto the bridge and thought it odd that everyone snapped to attention as though they had been caught smoking in the bathroom. Jim casually took notice and gave an easy smile. "How is it going?" He asked knowingly.

"Uh….good." Matt hurried. "We have found a few leads that all point to a government project called 'X-PAR' whatever the hell that means. What we know so far is that this program was funded by appropriations from the defense budget."

"Which means no one knows exactly how much was being spent on what." Noah groaned. Nathan may have been a bastard, but he was smart enough to cover his tracks. "What else you got?"

"We also know that whatever this X-PAR was, it employed a platoon of scientists and what looks like a private security contractor with networks all over the country." Matt continued. "There are accounts of people being snatched from their homes in the middle of the night never to be heard from again. There are enough missing persons cases filed around the time we left to fill Yankee Stadium."

"Is that a lot?" Jim quietly whispered. After working in space for awhile and having access to warp capabilities, one's relative scale of measurement tended to become skewed.

"He's exaggerating, but not by much." Noah answered grimly. "I wasn't kidding when I said you were looking at some of the last remaining specials and now we are a step closer to knowing why with this X-PAR thing. Anything else?"

"Not yet." Ando sighed. "There is so much information in the database it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is like a super-mega-hyper Wikipedia- just not as easy to navigate."

"Aye, an ya have ta be damn near an expert on 21rst century history ta know the difference between a committee and a caucus. All these ancient political terms is makin' my head hurt." Scotty complained. "It's all a mess! All these different groups all doin' the same thing and callin' themselves different names- NSA, Homeland Security, CIA- it's nearly impossible ta figure out who's responsible for what! It's a bloody wonder anything got done a'tall."

Nathan landed quiet as a cat in the expansive grassy yard and quickly smoothed out his ruffled hair and clothing to make himself presentable. It was late and he didn't expect to run into anyone except for his contact, but it would be just his luck to have a photo snapped of him looking like hell and he just never knew these days who would recognize him and who wouldn't give a damn. He had been on television a lot lately, but he was far from New York and his constituents. He had to be careful about using his ability and normally he wouldn't have except this was a pressing matter. He looked around casually and tried his best to look like he fit in.

"I didn't think you would get here so soon." A voice from behind a tree almost whispered.

"I told you I would get here as soon as I could." Nathan replied squinting to make out a shadow on the trunk.

"Did you take care of everything?" The voice continued.

"I am working on it." He sighed. It had been a very long day for him and he just wanted it to end. He wasn't in the mood for all this cloak and dagger business. It was then that it occurred to him that this was a bad idea. To get caught in a secret rendezvous was dreadful for him as a politician. But as it stood, a casual passerby would just assume he was talking to a tree which was equally appalling.

"You have to find him." The tree warned. "You can't allow Peter to get caught, you know what will happen."

"Yeah, I know." He admitted quietly. He wished the person would give him at least a little bit of credit, he was sticking his neck out as it was. He slowly made his way to the tree and leaned against the trunk. His partner's frame moved incrementally away, but he wasn't worried. "I will take care of it, I promise. But for now it is important for you to lay low." He lowered his head and added, "I will protect you as long as I can, Claire, but we don't have much time."