For our friends
The kitchen was empty and quiet and just as pompous as he remembered it. A kitchen that was big enough to be a living room. Only he´d never noticed it before. Before he´d seen it through the eyes of a man that had grown up in this place and never questioned the size of it. Now that he had the right distance to those memories, which had never been his own anyway, he saw it for what it was. The house of rich people, something he´d never been and never would be.
But it was not the size of the kitchen that bothered him right now. It was the face of the man that sat opposite of him. Mohinder had barely touched the tea, Angela´s servant had poured them. His eyes were somewhere else, his mind probably circling round and round over the question how to face Molly as soon as she´d come home. He seemed unable to stop thinking about it, just as Sylar seemed unable to stop watching him do it.
This was highly uncomfortable. He threw a glance at his wristwatch. How long could this woman possibly need to fetch the children from school? It was almost unbearable to stand this silence they were waiting in.
On the other side of the table Mohinder sighed and took a sip of his tea, cold by now. Sylar watched him put the cup down, his eyes, once again, trained on something that wasn´t there. And he, he noticed, was once again staring. Damn, that was just ridiculous.
"You know what I don´t understand?" he spoke up at last, to end this ridiculous situation. "Nathan´s kids. The two boys. Neither of them has an ability." He watched how this thought found its way into the geneticist´s mind and shrugged, demonstratively. "Shouldn´t they have one? I mean … they´re his kids. Shouldn´t he have passed it on to them? He passed it on to Claire. I … I don´t get it. How does that work?"
Mohinder lowered his gaze, thinking. He sighed.
"There are various possibilities that can explain this." he said. "It´s possible that their mother´s gens were dominant against Nathan´s. Combined with the fact that Nathan´s ability was artificially made, it could have resulted in his gens being the resilient ones."
Sylar met his gaze, showing the geneticist his best highly concentrated face. Mohinder shrugged.
"That doesn´t necessarily mean that he hasn´t passed it on." he kept talking. "It might only skip a generation. Depends on the gens of who the boys will chose as a partner, of course." He sighed. "And your try to distract me doesn´t work."
Sylar lowered his gaze, biting his lip. Dammit.
"I appreciate the gesture though." Mohinder added, a little softer. He was still clutching his teacup but at least he was smiling again, gratefully.
"I´m sure Parkman´s okay." Sylar said. "Okay? And if you break it down to Molly that way, it´ll be okay too. Tell her we need to find him because he might be in trouble and he might need help."
Mohinder only nodded. The sound of the front door was audible and then there were voices in the hall. Laughing and chatting. A big happy family. Amazing after all the things that had happened over the years.
The geneticist got up, to meet Molly in the hallway, his posture still too tensed to look casual. Still, when she saw him, Heidi Petrelli and her two sons were forgotten instantly and a happy smile enlightened her face. She started for him, eagerly, until Sylar stepped out of the kitchen. When she saw him, her smile faded at once, the warm light in her eyes immediately replaced by a cold glare. She stopped, warily regarding the killer.
"What is he doing here?" she demanded to know.
"Molly." Heidi Petrelli exclaimed, almost shocked about the girl´s rudeness. She approached the two men, smiling. "Hello. I´m Heidi. I believe we haven´t met so far. You must be Gabriel, Peter´s friend."
Sylar shook her hand, a polite smile on his face and returned the words of politeness. But Heidi seemed to sense the tension, regarding the three of them, estimating.
"Please excuse me, gentlemen, but I have still some work to do." she said smoothly and made her way back to her boys, gently chasing them away to clear the area. As discrete as any politician´s wife could ever be.
"Molly, I need to talk to you." Mohinder spoke, quietly, when they were gone. "Can we sit down?"
The girl nodded, uncertain and made her way into the kitchen. Not before glancing carefully at Sylar though. When he attempted to follow, she swirled around, glaring at him, warningly.
"That´s close enough." she told him and made him stop in his tracks.
Sylar instinctively searched Mohinder´s gaze. But of course there was nothing the geneticist could do to change the way things were. No one could. Not after all the things he´d done, things he knew he could never undo, and could never apologize for. Especially not to her.
Sylar sighed and took a step back, to stay by the door and leave the table to the two of them. He watched. The scientist, a man who´d spoken in front of dozens and dozens of students without problems, sat before this one single girl, facing her asking eyes and all the sudden, he didn´t know the words to start. His mouth was open but no sound was coming out. All he could do was throwing a helpless glance, over to the killer at the door.
"What?" Molly voice was confused. "What is it?"
Mohinder made himself look at her again, collecting his courage. "It´s about Matt." he finally managed to say and mentally kicked himself for letting his voice sound so heavy with worry. The fear was already in her eyes. "He appears to be … on some sort of mission." Mohinder kept talking. "And we can´t reach him."
"What happened?" The girl was on the edge of her seat.
"We´re not sure. He was with Hiro at the time. That was three days ago. Since then no one has heard of them or could reach them on their phones."
"Hiro Nakamura?" Molly repeated the crucial information. "Then they could be anywhere in the world." she cried.
"Right." Mohinder agreed, his relieve so obvious in his voice and face. "Maybe in a place with no reception." he suggested a possibility and Sylar closed his eyes, suppressing a groan. "You see … we´re not sure what happened and … where they might be. But they could need our help so …"
"I´ll find him." Molly agreed before Mohinder could even speak it out, immediately closing her eyes.
Sylar hurried to get his cell phone out and dialed Shawn´s number. He got an answer after only one ring.
"Yep." the fake psychic cried, full of energy.
"Shawn." Sylar answered, knowing that it was unnecessary to identify himself. "Are you still at the station?"
"Sure." was the quick answer. "And, dude. We found something more about our missing detective."
"We´re just in the process of localizing him." Sylar informed him.
This time the fake psychic hesitated. "That´s … good." he declared at last. "Where are they?"
Sylar´s eyes were trained on Molly, waiting for her to reveal what Shawn needed to know so badly. But as he looked, the determination on her face faltered and got replaced by pure confusion. The frown between her brows went deeper, each time her head was twitching. Eventually her eyes went open, almost on their own behalf. The look in them was tired, stunned and scared of what she must have seen.
"Molly?" Mohinder touched her shoulder. "Molly, what is it?"
Her head turned toward him, automatically, like her eyes had opened automatically. She shook her head.
"I … I can´t find him."
Mohinder stared at her in shock.
"He´s not …" And that was as far as her mind would allow her to get, before she had to surrender to the tears that rolled down her cheeks and the sobs that closed her throat.
Mohinder held her, trying to comfort, where his own shock and disbelieve was stunning him beyond any conscious action. His head turned around, towards Sylar, his eyes asking him, the killer, for help. To confirm or better yet, deny, that this was real.
But it was not a bad dream that happened here. It was real. And so was the voice coming from Sylar´s cell phone.
"Dude, are you still there?" Shawn cried.
"Yes. I´m still here, Shawn."
"Did you find them?" Shawn´s voice sounded uncertain now. He´d probably heard the heaviness in Sylar´s voice.
Sylar had to look away from those two grieving people, if he wanted to keep going. "No." he finally answered. "No, we didn´t find him. He´s dead."
"What? How do you know, did you find the body?"
"No." Sylar closed his eyes.
"Then how can you know?"
"We just know."
His tone must have been convincing enough to stop Shawn´s doubts at last.
"Okay." was all he replied and then Sylar could hear him pass the news on to someone else, probably Juliet or Lassiter. Next thing he heard was Bennet´s voice, faint and distant, in the background.
"What about Hiro?" Shawn passed the message on.
Sylar closed his eyes for a moment, knowing that it would devastate the girl if he asked her any more questions right now. But since she hated him anyway …
"Molly?" he addressed her, as gently as possible. "Molly, we need to know if you can find Hiro. Please, if he´s still alive …"
She looked at him with her wet eyes, hateful and hurt all at once, a look that was exclusively for him and no one else, the man who´d killed her parents. But then she closed her eyes and concentrated, one more time. After another moment, she squeezed her eyes shut even more, fresh tears spilling out of the corners. She shook her head.
"He´s not anywhere either." she cried.
Sylar looked at her and felt a strange remorse about those news. The idea of Matt being dead was already strange enough but now she said that Hiro Nakamura was dead too. That little energetic guy with the childlike features and the never ending hope for a happy end like in a fairy tale? He met Mohinder´s gaze again and read similar feelings there. Shock. Disbelieve.
"He´s dead too." he informed Shawn at last. "I´m sorry."
He wasn´t quiet sure who those last words were meant for, but in this situation, it really didn´t matter.
"Wait." Shawn cried on the other end. "Don´t hang up. What about his family?"
"Hiro´s family?" Sylar didn´t understand. The confusion in his voice made Mohinder look around.
"No, not Hiro´s family." Shawn corrected. "Parkman´s."
Sylar frowned. "What about them?"
"They are missing too."
Mohinder must have seen the change in Sylar´s features. He stood up from his seat, looking at the killer, asking. Sylar realized, suddenly, that he was the only one in the room, who could hear what Shawn was saying and hurried to put the cell on speaker phone.
"We just got the word that Janice Parkman hasn´t shown up for work since last week." the voice of the fake psychic echoed through the kitchen. "Her boss assumed she was sick but when they tried to call her, they didn´t reach anyone. When the police checked their home, they were not there. No one raised a pledge or anything, they´re just gone."
"You think someone kidnapped them?"
"That was the idea, but if Parkman himself is dead … why should they keep his wife and kid?"
"They wouldn´t." Lassiter´s voice came grumbling from the background.
"You think they killed them too?" That was Juliet´s passionate voice and Sylar could see her before his inner eye, how she was sitting there, her hand over her mouth, shocked over that idea.
"Whatever these sick bastards wanted, they got it and then they killed them." they heard Lassiter grumble. "Or they didn´t get it and killed them because of that. Anyway, the chances that they´re still alive are close to zero."
"No." Molly shouted all the sudden. "No, they aren´t. They´re alive. I can see them."
"What was that?" Shawn asked startled.
"Matt´s wife and his son." Molly shouted. "I found them, they are … they are in Los Angeles, in a hotel. But not in a room, they are in the cellar. In a … in a cell or something. I´m not sure. But they´re alive. They´re not dead."
Sylar searched Mohinder´s gaze, startled and uncertain, before he raised the phone again.
"Did you get this?"
"We got it." Shawn answered, excited and watched Bennet, who was already on Juliet´s computer.
"I need to know the name of that hotel." he demanded and Shawn passed the request on.
"The Chandler Plaza." he heard the girl answer at once and repeated it for Bennet.
"I´ve got it." the Company man declared after a minute of searching. His eyes were fixed on the computer screen, as if he´d just found something he´b been looking for for years. "It´s in Downtown, Los Angeles." he spoke.
There was a very brief moment of silence, Shawn noticed, before Juliet broke the spell again.
"And?" she asked and Bennet turned around to her.
"I´ll go there." he declared. "Matt Parkman´s family is there. I´ll go and get them out of there."
"We don´t even know if they´re not there on their own free will." Juliet added for consideration, trying to be the voice of reason in this room. "It´s a hotel."
"Molly Walker says they are in a cell." Bennet recalled. "That´s enough for me to know."
"I´m with you." Lassiter immediately declared, making Juliet swirl around.
"What? Carlton."
"What?"
"It´s a hotel." she emphasized once again, hoping someone would catch up with her argument. But no one did. Especially not Lassiter.
"That makes it perfectly easy to set up an observance." was all he would reply. "We check in, take a suite and build up a commando poste there. We´ve done that before, O´Hara."
"But that was here. In Santa Barbara. This is L.A. we´re talking about. That´s outside of our jurisdiction. Way outside of it."
"Not of mine." Bennet remarked, determined and way too calm for anyone to argue with him. "Matt Parkman was a friend of mine." he spoke. "So was Hiro Nakamura. The two of them saved my family more than just once. I owe it to Matt to save his family … and find the people who killed him."
"Gus and I are coming with you too." Shawn blurred out, excitedly.
"What?" Gus cried next to him. "Shawn."
Shawn turned around to his friend, totally serious for a change. "Dude. These people killed Hiro. The guy saved us all when he helped us to stop that black hole to swallow the city. The least we can do is to find his murderer."
The anger in Gus´ eyes, as well as his determination to disagree with everything Shawn might say, vanished behind a glimpse of shame. Shawn didn´t need to see anything else than that. He met Bennet´s gaze again and the Company man nodded, gratefully.
Now the only one who still had to be convinced, was Jules. Lassie turned around to her, throwing her an asking gaze.
"O´Hara?"
She flinched when realization hit her, looking from him to Shawn, over the whole group, as if she was surrounded by accusations. When she faced Lassiter again, her features were hardened. She raised her index finger, defensively, like a teacher in school.
"Oh, no." she said. "This is not fair. You´re presenting me with a fait accompli and now I´m the only one left to make a decision. Means that I will be the bad one if I say anything reasonable now. But not with me. You hear me? I´m not playing this game. Count me in. I´m with you. Let´s get over there and bust this place."
"Yes." Shawn cheered. "Sweet."
Lassiter and Bennet exchanged a tiny smirk.
"Dude, we´re going on a secret mission." Gus sang next to Shawn, finally catching his friend´s excitement.
"I know." Shawn held out his fist.
"Whaaat!"
"I tell the chief that we take some days off." Juliet declared, her voice hard and determined.
"And I make a reservation for that hotel." Lassiter added and the both of them retrieved in two different directions, while Shawn and Gus performed an excitement-dance that startled Bennet beyond every standard that he had ever known.
...
In New York, on the other end of the phone that Shawn still held in his hand, Sylar tried to gain the fake psychic´s attention. Unsuccessfully. His younger friend seemed to be too occupied with whatever he was doing, to even hear his cries.
After the fifth useless try, Sylar gave it up. He disconnected the line and dealt again.
"Oh, dude, I totally forgot about you." Shawn cried, when he realized who called him there. "Guess what? We´re going on a secret mission."
"Well, yeah." Sylar growled. "I heard some rumors about that. We´re coming with you."
"You do?"
"Yes."
"Great."
Mohinder took Sylar´s arm, making him look around at him. "How are we going to get there?" he demanded to know. "They´re in California."
Sylar only smiled. "Don´t worry. I can bring us there."
"I want to come too." Molly demanded, keeping Mohinder from thinking this through.
"No." he said, firmly. "This is too dangerous."
"Matt would …"
"Matt wouldn´t want you to be in danger." he talked right over her. "You´ll stay here. You told us where we can find them and with that your part is done. Let us take care of the rest."
She threw a doubting glance at Sylar, but Mohinder would not allow her to start again. Not this time.
"We´ll find them." he spoke, firmly. "And we´ll save them."
When she looked at him again, her anger was at last forgotten.
"Promise?" she asked quietly.
"I promise."
And with that it finally was settled. No more questions, no more doubts.
"Shawn." Sylar spoke into the phone again. "Make a reservation for two more."
...
Gus stopped the car at the curbside, across the street from Chandler Plaza in Downtown L.A. They´d been driving almost two and a half hours to get here, three of them only within the city of Los Angeles. It was a horrible traffic situation in that town. Gus wondered how people could live in such a mess.
But even with the exhaustion he felt after that trip, he was still unable to block out his excitement over the fact that they were here at last.
"There it is, Gus." Shawn voiced the tension of the sight. "The big bad house where the prisoners are being hold. But we´re going to find them."
"You know that´s right."
"Let´s get to it."
And with that the two of them flipped on their sunglasses and got out of the car. The sidewalk was crowded with people. Lassiter, Juliet and Bennet waited for them at Lassie´s Fusion, regarding them with startled frowns.
"What are you wearing?" Lassiter asked, looking at their identical leather coats.
Shawn cocked his head. "What are you wearing?" he asked in response, regarding Lassiter´s usual suit and tie. "Honestly, Lassie. If we´re supposed to go on this secret mission together, you should start wearing something less suspicious."
"Sure." Lassiter replied, unimpressed. "I´ll keep that in mind for our next secret mission that goes to a meeting of the Men in Black meets Matrix."
Gus gave a demonstrative chuckle at this, making Lassie frown at him.
"That´s the best reference you could come up with?" Shawn asked. "Come on, you can do better than that."
Someone bumped into Juliet, too much in a hurry to watch his steps. He murmured an apology and hurried on his way.
"There´s a lot of traffic going on here, isn´t it?" the detective commented, looking after the man slightly irritated.
"There´s a conference of some sort, I guess." Bennet mentioned.
"You guess." Shawn snorted. "Well, that´s not very accurate. And some sorts doesn´t quiet nail it either."
Bennet threw him a glance. "I didn´t say I knew what kind of conference is being held." he stated.
"But you assumed a conference right away."
"It´s a conference hotel, Shawn." Gus supported the Company man. "It´s logical to assume that these people are gathering together for that."
"It is?" Shawn looked around at the sign that read, Conference Hotel Chandla Plaza. "Oh, yeah." he found. "There it is."
"It´s a political conference." Lassiter stated, matter of factly, wrinkling his nose over the thought to have a bunch of politicians huddled together in one place. "Almost the whole hotel is sold out." he told them. "I was lucky to get a suite at all. The only one that was still free."
"Which one is that?" Juliet wanted to know.
"The honeymoon suite."
"Okay, people." Shawn cried out, demanding attention. "I hope you all realize what that means." He made a dramatic pause, to give his words more meaning. "It means it´ll be me and Jules checking in."
Lassiter only snorted. "Yeah, as if. I made the reservation and I´ll go in there to check in."
"But that´s impossible." Shawn cried.
"Why that?"
"Because no one will believe, that Jules would ever marry you."
"Ah, yeah?" Lassiter replied unimpressed. "And you don´t look like someone who can even afford the honeymoon suite."
Strange enough, his comment caused Shawn and Gus to look down on themselves.
"You know he´s not so wrong with that." Gus admitted quietly.
"Are you kidding?" Shawn cried scandalized. "That´s the best cowhide you can buy on the market."
"Carlton is right, Shawn." Juliet spoke up, trying to reason with him. "It´s just to get into the hotel."
"But … it might be necessary to keep up the act of a real couple later on." Shawn argued. "You know, with some arm in arm action at the cocktail bar and the poker tables."
"There are no poker tables in there, Shawn." Gus mentioned but of course Shawn didn´t believe him.
"How do you wanna know?" he asked.
"Maybe I should check in with detective O´Hara." Bennet cried out, fed up with that discussion.
"Forget it." Shawn replied at once. "You´re way too old to play her husband."
"And Carlton is not?" Juliet asked to defend her partner. It wasn´t before she saw his look, that she realized that this hadn´t come out quiet right. "Sorry." she immediately apologized. "That was not … I didn´t mean to imply …"
"Is there any chance to get into this hotel before new years eve?" Bennet interrupted, his voice raised to a point of shouting.
"Sure there is." Shawn replied. "Jules."
"Spencer."
"Lassie."
"Shawn." Gus snapped. By now he was fed up with that discussion as well. "By the way …" he addressed the whole group. "Is it just me or are we looking a bit suspicious? Five people standing around like that, right in front of that hotel."
Now that he´d pointed it out they all suddenly realized how many of the people who passed them, were throwing wondering gazes at them. And not just them. There were two men at the front door of the hotel across the street, who looked suspiciously like security men at a rock concert. Both of them were frowning suspiciously, watching them.
Shawn and Gus hurried to turn their backs on them, hiding their faces.
"Great start for a secret mission." Shawn grumbled, looking accusingly at Lassiter.
The detective only scowled at him and took Juliet´s elbow, leading her over the street and into the hotel. Shawn stared after them, baffled over that sudden and unannounced retrieve.
"But …." he wanted to object but the two of them had already passed the big glass doors, into the lobby.
"Forget it, Shawn." Gus demanded, making Shawn moan in defeat.
"Man."
Bennet only smirked at them, motioning for the car. "You can help me carry my equipment, boys."