Shots in the Dark
When Noah opened the door after that strangely complicated knocking, he´d expected almost anything but not that. Shawn Spencer was standing in the door, shoulders hunched, his head bowed down sunglasses shielding his eyes and the collar of his leather jacket flipped up to his ears. He had a newspaper under his arm, for what reason remained a mystery to Noah altogether.
The fake psychic moved his head just enough to indicate that he had something to say. And then he spoke. In a hoarse and colluding whisper tone.
"The birds … are heading south … before the first snow." he told Noah, who had absolutely no idea what to do with that.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked the man in the doorframe and finally Shawn´s ridiculous charade cracked and he stared at him, totally baffled.
"That … That´s a code." he informed him, for some reason emphasizing the newspaper under his arm.
"It doesn´t make any sense." Noah replied.
Shawn´s face became dead serious again. "It´s not supposed to." he told him.
Noah shook his head – sometimes this man was highly irritating – and opened the door for him at last.
"Just get in here."
But in this moment someone else appeared behind Shawn. Noah froze in his steps, staring blankly into those cold glowing eyes of the killer.
"You."
Sylar smiled.
Shawn flinched, not so much because of a killer standing behind him, but because of Noah´s reaction. His immediate approach to ease down the situation was to hold out his hands at both of them, and even though he didn´t find the time to say anything, his facial expression said loud and clear: Easy, guys. We all wanna survive this.
Noah barely noticed the gestures though. All he saw was the smiling face of the killer.
"Hello, Noah." Sylar greeted him.
Before Noah had a chance to react to this mocking tone, the killer was joined by the geneticist, the first normal face Noah saw since he´d opened the door. He relaxed a little, just enough to speak evenly.
"Mohinder." he nodded. "Can we come in?" the scientist asked.
Instead of an answer, Noah glared at Sylar. But once again Shawn Spencer was acting faster than he´d expected and shoved himself inside, past Noah.
"Of course you can." he said with a dismissing snort. "Just because he didn´t get my reference, doesn´t mean you have to stand outside forever."
The two uninvited guests entered the suite right after the fake psychic, closely watched by Noah, who wouldn´t let Sylar out of his sight for only one second. He was in the process of closing the door, when a third person walked in. One he hadn´t even thought of anymore. Noah flinched when he stood in the door so unexpectedly and held it open once again, to let Gus step in.
For a moment the priggish gaze of the man drew all his attention off the other people in the room, irritating him almost as much as Shawn´s ridiculous code had done it before. And then Gus was inside and Noah let the door fall into the lock, almost disguising the other clicking sound that echoed through the room. Almost.
"What is this scumbag doing here?" Lassiter demanded to know, his gun aiming at Sylar.
The killer turned to face the angry detective, but it was not him who gave an answer to his question.
"The same as you, detective." Mohinder declared. "Saving an innocent woman and her child from getting killed."
The statement earned him a positively surprised glance from Sylar and a silent approving gesture from Shawn. None of it seemed to be noticed by either the scientist or the detective, who were still busy staring each other down.
"Put that gun away." Mohinder demanded. "We´re on the same side."
"Prove that to me." Lassiter growled but put the gun down nonetheless, readjusting the safety.
"How did you get here so fast?" Noah wanted to know. "I thought you were in New York."
"We were." Mohinder affirmed, his gaze still on Lassiter, still angry.
"Then how …?"
"It doesn´t matter." Mohinder talked right over him. "What matters is that we act fast now, before Matt´s wife and son are paying the prize for our slowness."
"Actually it could matter, Mohinder." Sylar spoke up, for the first time since he´d entered the room. He must have gotten a pretty funny idea because he chuckled, shaking his head. "I don´t understand why I didn´t think of that earlier." he said. "But … Think about it, I could use that power to get them out."
Noah watched Mohinder´s reaction and as it seemed, the geneticist actually understood what the killer was talking about.
"What power?" the Company man demanded to know.
"Uh, I know it." Shawn cried out excitedly. "I know what power you mean. That … That shadow thingy, that got you out of that smoking room, right?"
"What?" Lassiter´s expression of total confusion reassured Noah´s believe in his own ability to follow a reasonable conversation. He once again had no idea what the fake psychic was talking about.
"Dude, that´s awesome." Shawn exclaimed, staring at Sylar with glowing eyes. "That´s almost as good as teleportation."
"You really think you could do this?" Mohinder asked the killer, way more cautious than Shawn. "I thought you need to know your destination."
"I do." Sylar affirmed. "But I know the target. Kinda. It´s the cellar of this building, right? That´s more than I need to find them."
Slowly Noah began to understand the course of that talk, the meaning of it all making its way into his consciousness.
"So you´re talking about walking through a shadow to get to Janice Parkman and her son, is that right?" he asked for confirmation.
"If you can really do that, then you should try it right now." detective O´Hara blurred out, before Noah even had a chance to question if it was a good idea, to let this killer get near the hostages.
Sylar of course was only too eager to agree with her. "I need a dark corner." he said.
"How about the bathroom?" Shawn suggested, even faster than O´Hara had been.
"Just a second." Lassiter cried out, effectively blocking their way to said bathroom. "Are we really talking about letting the killer do the work we came for?" he spoke out what Noah had been thinking. "Saving the hostages? Him?"
"I´m not a killer anymore." Sylar stated but Lassiter only glared at him.
"I´ll never believe that."
There was a brief tensed moment, in which the two of them only stared at each other, neither of them saying anything else to clear that subject, probably knowing very well that they wouldn´t convince each other anyway. At last it was again the scientist who broke the silence.
"We should try it." he said, declaring that the decision had been made and that no further discussion would be allowed. He demonstratively walked past Lassiter and over to the bathroom door, closely followed by Sylar, then Shawn, then Gus, then Juliet.
Noah met Carlton´s gaze briefly before they both joined the gathering, which was already in the process to examine the small bathroom for its suitability.
It was dark enough in there with the door open, so it was easy to assume, that it would provide a deep enough shadow for their purpose, as soon as they closed the door. As a matter of fact it would be totally dark in there as soon as the door was closed. A room with no windows would have that effect.
"Should I come with you?" Mohinder asked the killer, uncertain, but Sylar shook his head.
"No. I need to look out for them first. If I even find them, I need my full concentration for this."
The geneticist only nodded and let the murderer enter the bathroom all on his own. Noah watched him closely as he closed the door behind Sylar, practically allowing him to go anywhere he pleased and do anything he want, knowing that they wouldn´t be able to stop him.
"I hope you know what you´re doing." he spoke, not able to keep this to himself.
"What are you talking about?" Mohinder snapped.
"Trusting him with these peoples lives." Noah replied, calmly. "The lives of your friend´s family."
"He has no reason to harm them in any way. And I would appreciate it if we wouldn´t waste value time by discussing Sylar´s motives, while Matt´s wife and son´s lives are at stake."
"Their lives are the reason why I question Sylar´s motives." Noah clarified.
Their discussion was interrupted by Carlton demanding quiet. He had his ear at the door, listening carefully. When he couldn´t hear anything from the other side, he eventually opened the door. The room was empty. Lassiter switched on the light to make absolutely sure. But there was nothing. No corners to hide, no hatches, windows or other doors that led out of there, except for the one he´d just opened.
"Son of a bitch." the detective grumbled.
"Switch out the light again." Mohinder demanded quietly after a moment. "He needs to find the way back."
Lassiter hesitated, a smirk on his lips. "What would happen to him if I would leave this on?" he asked.
He got no answer. The doctor only reached for the lightswitch himself and killed the lights, before closing the door, wordless.
Noah had rarely seen the geneticist so impatient and this behavior didn´t make much sense to him. On one side he was so worried about Matt Parkman´s family that he wouldn´t waste only one second of unnecessary discussions, on the other hand he trusted their lives to a cold blooded killer. A knock on the front door made them all swirl around.
"Room service." a male voice cried from outside and then there was already the sound of the lock beeping.
"Dammit." Lassiter cursed and ripped the bathroom door open again, shoving them all inside. "Quick. Hide." he ordered. "O´Hara."
Juliet immediately started to move and was at the front door to buy them some time, her hand slipping away just before Shawn could grab it to drag her behind. He cursed almost desperately and then he was inside the bathroom, Bennet´s arm in his face and Gus´ elbow in his side. He pushed and Gus pushed back, shoving him against the sink in his try to reach over to the light switch. Shawn could barely see anything but he could hear Gus´ annoyed huff when his hand didn´t make contact with the switch but with Suresh´s back, who stood right in front of it, not moving aside and sure as hell not switching on the light.
Shawn´s hand clung to the sink in order to steady himself in that darkness. In that tightness of this small room. A room full of faucets. And water. Damn, was it just him or was it really getting hotter and hotter in here?
...
"Carlton." Juliet hissed at her partner, when he pulled his gun at the door. He flinched, noticing his action just then and put it away.
"Sorry. Old habit."
By now the uninvited visitor had managed it to open the door and smiled at them, despite Lassiter´s efficient method of keeping him outside the suite.
"Room service, sir." he announced again, holding up a big bottle with a golden neck.
"We didn´t order anything." Lassiter stated.
"It´s … complimentary champagne." the young man informed him, his smile a little uncertain by now. "For the newly weds. Something to celebrate."
Lassiter regarded the bottle and the man who held it, with wary eyes.
„Turn it around." he demanded.
The poor guy frowned, throwing a helpless glance at Juliet.
"The bottle." Lassiter repeated. "Turn it around. Let me see it."
After a moment of pure irritation, the boy did as Lassiter had asked, allowing the detective to check out every inch of the bottle. When Lassiter was sure that there were no hidden devises or other unexpected surprises attached to this … present, he took it out of the startled boy´s hands.
"Thanks." he said briefly, handing the bottle to O´Hara.
"Is everything all right?" the boy asked. "Or do you need anyth...?"
"We´re good." Lassiter informed him and closed the door into his face.
...
In the bathroom, Shawn was still trying to control his breathing, sweating bullets in the process, but not because of the poor air conditioning. His hand was still clinging to the sink and if he´d been able to see it, he would have seen his knuckles standing out white with the tension. Dammit, how long could it need to get rid of a room service?
"Hey." he heard Bennet´s voice, so quiet that he barely understood the words. "Is everything all right with you?"
"Sure." he pressed out. "Sure, I´m fine."
He couldn´t see the face of the older man but he was sure he didn´t sound too convincing. Next to him Gus huffed.
"This bathroom is far too small for a honeymoon suite." he hissed and in this moment Shawn just couldn´t stand it any longer.
"I need to get out of here." he breathed, trying to push his way past Bennet and Suresh.
"As soon as Carlton gives the all clear." Bennet told him, not moving aside.
It needed all of Shawn´s willpower not to squeal in frustration and to keep himself from breaking through this wall of bodies before him. He still couldn´t see their faces – hell he couldn´t see anything – but he was sure they were regarding him with irritation and worry.
He closed his eyes, willing the images away that tried to get into his mind, by concentrating on his direct surroundings. The things that he sensed that were around him, things he could touch to steady himself, like the sink under his hand. Gus´ elbow in his side, the tiled floor under his feet. His own breathing was the loudest thing in his head, in this room. He had to steady it. To lower it down.
Wasn´t there something else, a sound that hadn´t been there before? Yeah there was. He could hear it. Something was there with him, behind him. And it was moving, moving in the dark. A hand touched his shoulder – not Gus´ – and finally Shawn panicked.
...
When the screaming arose in the bathroom, the two detectives swirled around, rushing over there in an instant. This time Juliet pulled her gun too but when they reached the door, it was busted open from the inside and a screaming Shawn was followed by a screaming Gus, both of them stumbling over each other, out of the bathroom, both of them in panic.
Inside of the bathroom a shot rang out and Juliet managed it to turn away from that sight on the ground. A groan from the bathroom got drowned out by her partner´s voice, yelling: "Freeze!" and then there was the sound of something smashing against the wall.
Juliet could see Bennet, pressed against the tiles by a very angry looking Dr. Suresh. The gun he was holding got ripped out of his fingers and deformed, before it flew to the ground, useless and beyond repair.
"That was the last time you pulled your gun on any of us." he hissed at the Company man. "You hear me? I´m fed up."
Juliet could not believe what she saw. She moved to the right, to see what had happened inside that bathroom. She saw Sylar, sitting on the ground, holding his shoulder, his shirt soaked with blood from a wound that was already in the process of healing.
Again there was a knock on the door.
"Is everything all right in there?" the voice of the boy called from outside. "I heard a noise."
"Crap." Lassiter grumbled and stepped over Shawn and Gus, to get back to the door. "We uncorked the bottle, okay?" he shouted. "Give us a break."
...
Sylar regarded his image in the big mirror of the bedroom. The blood on his shoulder, from the wound that had already healed ten minutes ago, leaving no mark behind. Sylar sighed.
Blood was persistent. It´s not easy to just wash it away, to erase it that easily. You could change the shirt, ripped by the bullet and colored by the red, but the tracks would still remain. The memories.
Outside her could hear their voices, faint, arguing.
"It was you who busted the door, Shawn." Gus recalled, fiercely.
"Yeah, because I wanted out of the line of fire."
"The shooting hadn´t even started then. You panicked."
"As far as I remember, you where the one who started screaming."
"You screamed too, Shawn."
"And I stopped screaming, circa ten minutes before you."
"That´s not even halfway accurate on the time, Shawn."
"You two just stop it." Lassiter´s voice cut off the argument.
For ten seconds it was quiet outside, then Shawn and Gus picked up their banter, whispering this time.
Sylar barely heard it. He was still too much focused on the trail of blood on his own skin. His own blood but still … Forcing himself to stop this kind of thinking, he used the wrecked shirt to rub the blood off himself, with quick angry swipes. What was he doing here anyway? It wasn´t the first time that he got shot by Bennet and it would certainly not be the last time.
He threw the useless shirt to the ground and put on the one Lassiter had given him. Good thing they had the same size. He was just done buttoning it, when he heard a shuffle at the door.
He closed his eyes with a sigh, knowing that it was Mohinder standing in the door. It had been bad enough when he´d had to tell him that his trip through the shadow had brought nothing. It would be even worse now to explain why. Not that it had been his fault that there had been no shadows deep or big enough for him to get out on the other side, that there were too many lights on in that cellar where Parkman´s wife and kid were held captive. But he´d promised him to get them out and he´d failed.
He opened his eyes again, preparing himself and turned around.
"I know what you wanna say." he started and got cut off when he didn´t face Mohinder but Juliet.
She raised her brows. "Really?"
This sudden change in the situation threw him off course for a moment. So did her asking gaze.
"Is Shawn all right?" he managed it to ask, knowing that the question was ridiculous.
"He´s fine." Juliet answered it anyway. "Again."
Sylar nodded, actually meaning it when he told her: "I didn´t mean to scare him like that."
"I know." she said. "He knows. You didn´t … really scare him. It´s just the memories, you know."
"I know."
"What they did to him down there …" she shook her head. "It´s a miracle that he didn´t lose his mind."
"He has you. That surely helps him."
For a moment Juliet didn´t know what to say, just stared at him, before nodding in hesitant agreement. She chuckled briefly.
"I have the feeling I became the unofficial counselor for almost everybody who was involved in this." she summarized and Sylar knew exactly what she wanted to say.
"That´s because you´re such a good listener." he told her, making her smile, gratefully. "Did anyone ever counsel you?" he asked her. "You went through so much as well. Maybe even worse than Shawn. The uncertainty, the fear … not knowing if there was still hope …"
"I got counseled." she interrupted him gently. "From both, Shawn and you. Talking is a two way street, you know."
And of course he knew. How couldn´t he? And when he smiled at her, she smiled back, knowing what he knew, that they understood each other.
"How are you?" she asked, her voice soft and gentle.
"Good." he answered. "I was killed before."
But she shook her head. "I wasn´t talking about the bullet."
"I know." He threw a glance past her, outside to where the others were gathered around Bennet´s equipment. "I´m good." he assured her and when she turned around, he was sure she knew who he´d primarily looked at, among the others.
"O´Hara." Lassiter shouted, turning around to them. He waved his hand impatiently for her to come and join them.
The two of them exchanged a last silent glance, before leaving the bedroom, to join the briefing.
"All right, everybody." Bennet spoke when they were all complete, pointing at a spot on the plan of the building. "This is it. The one door that is between us and Janice Parkman."
"Where do you have these plans from?" Gus wanted to know and only got a confident smile from the other man.
"Connections." was all Bennet would answer him. "This elevator leads down to the cellar." he picked up where he´d been interrupted. "And we have no way to open it."
"I can open it." Mohinder assured him.
"Without raising an alarm." Bennet added emphasizing. "Without the right thumbprint to press on the scanner, these doors will not open quietly. And since there´s a conference today, the security is double as high as usual."
"So how do we get inside?" Lassiter wanted to know, obviously confident that Noah would have a plan at hand.
"Since our two heroes here decided to compromise themselves early, we have two people less that can approach that elevator." the Company man summarized, making Shawn cry out scandalized.
"What? What are you talking about? We didn´t compromise ourselves. We were´n´t even in an argument."
Bennet didn´t give a response to that, simply switched on the screen to show them the video footage he´d recorded over the course of the last two hours. The tape showed Shawn and Gus who got dragged out of the staircase and into the lobby, right in front of the hotel manager. Shawn watched the tape with an amused smirk, until he realized that everybody was looking at him.
"What?" he cried defensively. "That´s not what it looks like. We were just …"
"Noah´s right, Shawn." Juliet interrupted him, before he could make up ridiculous excuses. "You blew your cover. They know your faces now."
"I didn´t blow our cover." Shawn insisted and pointed at Gus. "He did."
"What?" "You cracked the door."
"Because you told me to. And you were the one who wanted to take the stairs."
"I had a reason."
"A stupid reason. Only because you were too proud to talk to your therapist."
"I already told you. There´s no point in talking to her about something that´s …"
"She´s an expert in such things, Shawn."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Lassiter shouted, finally making them stop. For a moment the two of them just stared at him. "What has the therapist to do with all this?" Lassiter demanded to know.
"Nothing." Shawn, Gus and Juliet answered unisono.
The unexpected embarrassment in all of their faces made Lassiter frown. Neither of them would give him an explanation though.
"Anyway, you guys can´t go near that elevator anymore." Bennet summarized, to get going with the briefing.
"Why not?" Shawn demanded to know.
"Because they know your faces now and as soon as you go anywhere near that elevator, every alarm in this hotel will go off." Noah told him.
Lassiter snorted. "That will happen no matter where they are seen in this hotel. Great work, Spencer."
"At least your little stunt provided us with some information." Bennet went on, switching the picture on the screen again. "We now know who can open that elevator for us. After he threw you out, Mr. Emmerson, the hotel manager, decided to check if you guys did any damage." The screen showed them the hidden elevator, Shawn and Gus had discovered. Emmerson walked up to it and put his thumb on the scanner. A moment later the doors opened and he walked in. "His print opens the doors." Bennet spoke out what they´d just seen.
"Great." Shawn cheered. "Then all we have to do is getting his prints."
"Means we need his thumb." Lassiter agreed, causing Juliet to glance at him uncertain.
"I´ll get it for you." Sylar immediately promised, smiling when everybody looked at him. "You want it with or without the guy?"
Bennet kept looking at him, long and warning. "Considering the circumstances I´d say we shouldn´t spread bodyparts all over the place." he said at last.
Next to Shawn, Gus started to gag at the thought, holding a hand over his mouth to muffle the sound.
Sylar looked down at Noah, meeting the stern gaze of the man with a smile.
"He´ll take on the manager´s form to get us past the security and the system of the elevator." Mohinder spoke on his behalf.
Bennet´s eyes never left Sylar. "Will he?" he asked but of course he got no answer. "All right then." he gave it up at last. "But I´d rather have you get down there without being seen. Means we need the guards off that door for a while so you can slip in." He took his eyes off the scientist and lay them on the fake psychic instead. "And I think I have the perfect two guys to create a diversion for us."