Three Days in Time

Three days before Ando Masahashi would call Noah Bennet for help, Hiro Nakamura was lying slumped over his desk in the office of his family´s company. He was groaning, holding his stomach in agony, a slightly grayish color on his face, that actually started to worry his friend. Him maybe, but not Kimiko, who stood before him, arms crossed and unimpressed by the show her little brother was performing.

"Don´t fall for this, Ando." she told her husband. "I already know that. And so do you."

Ando didn´t say anything but his gaze said clearly that he knew she was right.

"Uhhhh. I don´t know, Kimiko." Hiro whimpered. "I really don´t feel good. I think I´m sick. I …"

"Just stop it, Hiro." she finally snapped. "That´s the same trick you used to play when we were still kids and you didn´t want to go to school. It didn´t work back then and it won´t work now. This meeting is important."

"She´s right, Hiro." Ando supported her, speaking much gentler than his wife. "You are both representatives of Yamamoto Industries. You should both be there."

Hiro sighed, looking into the stern eyes of his sister, pleadingly. "Kimiko. We both know that you are the one leading this company." he said and for a moment her stern gaze actually faltered, making her blink in surprise. "I just carry the name of our father." Hiro went on. "But it was you who saved this company from going down and it is you who should represent it. I would only embarrass you."

And as unbelievable as it was, Kimiko´s eyes started to glisten with unexpected affection for her little brother, something that happened only once or twice a year, under normal circumstances. But now she looked down on him and actually smiled, touched by his words.

"Hiro." she lay her hand over his. "That´s so sweet of you to say that."

He smiled back at her, feeling new hope rising in his chest.

"But it won´t save you from coming with me, so stand up and get ready." she told him and Hiro slumped back into his seat, sighing deeply.

He glanced over to Ando but his friend only shrugged, not helping him in any way. It seemed that it was his inevitable fate that he had to attempt this very long and very boring business meeting.

He was in the process of standing up to succumb to this fate, when the phone on his desk started ringing. He immediately picked it up, practically jumped at it.

"Dial a Hero." he spoke with an expecting smile. "How can we save you?"

"Oh, no." Kimiko cried. "Don´t you dare. We have a meeting."

But Hiro shushed her, holding up a hand and giving her a face that asked: Where are your manners? I´m talking to someone.

Kimiko glared at him furiously and pointed at him, mouthing: You´ll come with me.

"Hiro?" the caller spoke and Hiro faced away from his angry sister. "God, I … I wasn´t sure if this line would actually work."

Hiro halted, recognizing the voice that obviously called from America.

"Matt Parkman? This is Matt Parkman." he told Ando and Kimiko with an excited smile.

"What does he want?" Ando asked, stepping forward.

Hiro turned back to the phone, taking on a more straightened posture. "Welcome Matt Parkman." he greeted his friend. "How are you? How can I be of service?"

"Hiro." Matt Parkman sighed. "I´m sorry to call you like this, but I need your help."

"That´s what a hero is there for. What can I do?"

"It´s nothing I can explain over the phone. But it´s urgent. Could you come and meet me?"

"Sure. Immediately."

"What does he want?" Kimiko demanded to know, guessing something she wouldn´t like.

Hiro stuffed a finger into his ear to drown her out in order to understand what Matt Parkman was telling him. After he´d told him the address where he wanted to meet him, Hiro nodded.

"I understand. I´ll be there on the double."

"You what?" Kimiko rushed but Ando lay a hand on her shoulder to keep her calm.

"Again, Hiro." Matt Parkman said, sounding worried. "It´s really urgent. I wouldn´t ask you if it wasn´t important."

"Ando and I can be with you in …"

"No." Matt interrupted him. "Not Ando. Only you. I can´t explain it now. Not over the phone. You´ll understand it when you´re here."

Hiro frowned uncertain. "All right." he said, glancing at his friend.

"Please hurry."

"Don´t worry, Matt Parkman. I´m already on my way." He hung up, facing his sister.

"Oh, no, you´re not." she stated matter of factly. "We. Have. A meeting."

"I´m very sorry, sister."

"Don´t you sister me."

"But a friend of mine is in trouble and I´m not going to let him down." Hiro finished his statement with determination.

"What´s the matter?" Ando asked, worry about Matt coloring his voice.

"I don´t know." Hiro admitted. "He didn´t tell me."

"He didn´t tell you?" Kimiko cried. "How are you supposed to help him when you don´t know what is going on?"

"He will tell me." Hiro assured her. "As soon as I see him."

"Don´t even think of it." Kimiko hissed. "You can see your friend later. After our meeting."

When Hiro spoke again, he did so with a solemn face of dignity. "I´m sorry, sister." he said. "But fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."

Kimiko just stared at him, shaking her head in confusion. "What?"

Ando rolled his eyes. "That´s a quote from Transformers 2." he told her. "Revenge of the Fallen."

Kimiko halted, blinking. She inhaled as if to say something but in the end she only shrugged, taken too much by surprise with this.

"Oh." was all she said. "Well … in that case. But we still have a meeting."

"You will do just fine, Kimiko." Hiro assured her with a warm smile. "You always do. And you have Ando."

"Matt will need us both." Ando insisted but Hiro shook his head.

"No. He only wants to see me."

"What? Why that?"

"I don´t know. But don´t worry. He´ll have his reasons." Hiro stepped away from his chair to stand in a better space. "I have to go." he said, smiling with excitement. "I call you as soon as I know more. Promise."

"But Hiro."

"Until then."

"Hiro!"

But Hiro had already squeezed his eyes shut and vanished into thin air.

...

When he reappeared he was standing before a hotel in Los Angeles, exactly where Matt Parkman had asked him to come to. He entered the lobby, looking around for his old friend. He couldn´t spot him. Instead a man in a gray suit approached him, a polite smile on his face.

"You must be Mr. Nakamura if I´m correct." he said.

Hiro smiled at him and took a quick bow. "You are correct." he said. "Hiro Nakamura."

"My name is Emmerson, I´m the manager of this hotel." the man introduced himself. "I got instructions to welcome you as soon as you´d arrive."

"I´m supposed to meet a friend of mine here." Hiro told this nice Mr. Emmerson. "Mr. Matt Parkman. He´s a detective."

Emmerson nodded. "Please, follow me."

He led Hiro to a door with a golden sign on it that read conference room.

"Your friends are in there." he told him, nodded politely and then retrieved.

Hiro looked after him for a moment, before eagerly opening the door to step in.

The room was wide but not too big. Just big enough for a limited business meeting, probably about the size his sister had wanted him to attempt. But this room was not used for a business meeting. A meeting yes, but the people inside were not dressed like business men. Hiro spotted Matt Parkman among them and smiled at him, performing another bow to greet him.

"Matt Parkman."

Matt didn´t seem too happy to see him though. "Hiro." he shook his head regretfully. "I´m so sorry to drag you into this."

Hiro was confused. "What is it?" he asked and all the sudden the men around him, were holding guns in their hands, aiming at him.

Hiro flinched and hurried to raise his hands. A glance at his friend Matt Parkman told him that he´d known very well, that this would happen.

"Mr. Hiro Nakamura." a female voice spoke up and then a blonde woman, wearing a nice white lady´s suit stepped forward to greet him. "Welcome." she said with a smile. "I´m very sorry for the rough greeting. But you´ll understand in time."

"What does all this mean?" Hiro asked. "Who are you?"

"My name is Shana Stockwell." she introduced herself politely. "And you Mr. Nakamura are here because I need your help to save a life."

Hiro immediately forgot the guns that were aimed at him and lowered his arms to stand straight.

"A hero is always ready to do his duty." he spoke. "Who is it who needs to be saved?"

Shana Stockwell looked at him with a strange glimmer in her eyes, when she answered: "Nathan Petrelli."

"Huh?" Hiro´s mouth dropped open in confusion. "Nathan Petrelli? But … Nathan Petrelli is already dead."

"I know that." was all she said, not a bit irritated by that fact. "For two years, seven months and six days to be precise."

Hiro looked into her eyes and then glanced over at Matt Parkman, briefly. And he understood. "You want me to go to the past and change time."

Shana Stockwell performed one slow nod, her smile brighter as ever. "Exactly."

Hiro had the most serious face, when he spoke again. "I´m very sorry, Miss Stockwell." he said. "But I have sworn an oath, that I will never travel back in time. Never again. Too many things can go wrong."

Shana only looked at him, with something like pity, both brows raised. She nodded. "I was afraid that you´d say that. Unfortunately I can´t accept that."

"I´m very sorry." Hiro said and meant it. "Nathan Petrelli was my friend too. But I cannot change the past."

"You better think about that again." Shana replied, her gaze somehow harder than it had been before. She rounded Matt until she stood behind him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. "Because you see, Mr. Parkman here has a family that counts on him." she let Hiro know. "That´s the reason why he called you. He would have never done that if it wouldn´t be for them."

Hiro was confused. "I don´t understand." he admitted.

"They have Janice and little Matt, Hiro." Matt spoke it out. "They say if we don´t do what they want … they´ll …"

"You see." Shana took over again. "It´s not only one life that is at stake here. But three."

Hiro stared at her, in utter disbelieve. "You are no hero." he found. "You´re a villain … aise."

Shana only smiled. "I´m trying to save a life." she stated.

"By threatening an innocent woman and her child? This is something only a villain would do."

"Call it what you want. But it is your decision what happens to this innocent woman and her child. Not mine. You wouldn´t want them to get hurt, would you?"

Hiro met the gaze of Matt Parkman and he could see the desperation in his eyes. Of course he was. It was about his family. But there were certain things a hero could never do, not in a thousand years.

"Do you have any idea what could happen, if we change the past?" he asked Shana. "Because of Nathan Petrelli´s death, things have happened, that have set the course for the future. They are part of the natural order of time that led to the present we live in. If I would go back in time now and change what was supposed to happen, the consequences could be disastrous. Things could happen that you can´t even imagine. Much worse than everything that happened after Nathan died. That´s the butterfly effect. It could destroy everything. Step on a butterfly today and it could cause …"

"Then you better find a way to save his life without stepping on a butterfly." Shana interrupted him, her voice gentle but unmistakable in its firmness.

"That´s not possible." Hiro told her and she smiled again. "You´ll make it possible. You´re a hero, aren´t you? Nothing´s impossible for a real hero."

Hiro didn´t say a word, just looked at her.

"What´s the matter?" she asked, mocking his reaction. "You get the chance to save three lives." she stated matter of factly. "Oh, and before you even think about it. You won´t find his wife and kid to go there and save them. Not even I know where they are, so he doesn´t know it either by reading my mind. But believe me, I get the message through to where they are. In case you should try anything else but what I asked you to do."

Hiro looked at her, sad and defeated and for a moment, she seemed to react to his expression. Only for a moment.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked and she smiled again.

"You said it yourself." she said. "I am a villainaise. I don´t need a reason for being evil, do I? Now go and bring me Nathan Petrelli. Alive. Matt will go with you. To make sure you won´t forget what´s at stake here."

For a moment, Hiro was startled. "You let us go alone?"

„Au contraire. This is Mr. Robert Perkins. Bob will go with you. To assist … and watch you. But I trust that you understood the message our little briefing was supposed to give you. Matt sure as hell did."

Hiro met the gaze of his friend and Matt stepped to his side in silence. Shana´s man joined them.

"We meet you here again in exactly three days from now." she instructed them. "Be in time."

"Why in three days?" Hiro asked baffled.

"Because our time in here´s up. We´re not the only guests of this hotel, Mr. Nakamura. And because we have to make some preparations for when you bring us Nathan. Give us a break, we´re only human after all."

She gave him a smile that could have been sweet if she hadn´t been such an evil character.

"We´ll wait for your return." she said. "Good luck, gentlemen. By finding Nathan. Oh, and by the way." she called them back one last time. "Try not to step on a butterfly while you´re at it."

Hiro only stared into her evil smiling eyes and didn´t say anything.

Right and left of him, Matt and Mr. Perkins lay their hands on his shoulders, ready to go and do what they´d been ordered to do. The last thing Hiro saw before he squeezed his eyes shut, was the confident smile of Shana Stockwell.

...

The Stanton Hotel in Washington was a busy place when Hiro and his two fellow time travelers appeared in the small allay across from it. And of course it was. The president of the United States was supposed to hold a speech in there on this day. That fateful day in time, Hiro had hoped to never have to relive again.

This wasn´t good. This wasn´t right. They shouldn´t be here. Whatever this woman Shana expected them to do to … not disturb history with this, it would never work. It just couldn´t. No matter how careful they were, no matter how well they planned it – and they hadn´t even planned anything yet – they would never succeed in not changing something. And even the slightest change would be enough to destroy everything, maybe even to destroy the world. He couldn´t do this, he mustn´t allow it.

"There he is." he heard Shana´s man whisper, he and Matt Parkman peeking around the corner at the front entrance of the hotel.

Hiro followed their gazes and gasped. That was the Cheerleader. Claire Bennet. But the way she´d been almost three years ago. On that day. She was entering the hotel, walking side by side with Nathan Petrelli. Hiro swallowed dryly. This wasn´t good.

"No." Matt Parkman mumbled, responding to Perkins´ observation. "No, I think this is Sylar."

"You think?" Perkins threw him a warning gaze.

"Listen." Matt Parkman faced the man that was part of the group that threatened the life of his family. "I wasn´t there, okay?" he informed him. "I only know what they told me. But the way I remember the stories, this man we just saw should be Sylar. He knocked out the real Nathan Petrelli before Claire got to him. That´s what they told me. Nathan and Peter arrived here later, after they were already here … I think."

Perkins regarded him for a moment, warily, estimating. But in the end he nodded, accepting Matt´s words.

"Okay. So when is he going to kill the senator?" he wanted to know.

"I can tell you where." Matt answered without really giving an answer and pointed upwards, at the front of the building. "Up there in a hotel suite." he told him. "When exactly …" but at this he only shrugged. "We´ll have to wait for that. And watch."

"This is wrong." Hiro spoke up for the first time since they got here, causing the two men to turn around to him.

"I know." Matt agreed with him, a regretful look in his eyes.

"No, I mean … it´s wrong being here." Hiro looked from one man to the other, pleading for them to get back to their senses. "What we´re planning to do is wrong." he cried. "It could destroy the whole world."

Perkins only snorted. "Don´t be ridiculous."

"I´m not being ridiculous." Hiro replied fiercely, suddenly not scared but angry. "It´s the truth." he insisted, facing this ignorant man. "If we change what fate wanted to happen, we could destroy everything."

"Listen." Perkins raised a hand to calm him down. "We´re not here to interfere." he assured him. "We´ll let happen what was supposed to happen. Sylar will kill the senator and people will believe he´s dead. We only take the body with us."

"But …" Hiro was confused. "I thought our order is to save him."

"And we will." Perkins assured him. "Don´t worry, we have a plan."

This whole thing had thrown Hiro off balance, his anger from before was gone, replaced by confusion.

"It´s still not right." he repeated and this time Perkins didn´t react so patient anymore. He let out an annoyed sigh, shooting Hiro a warning glance.

"Listen, pal, you start to get on my nerves." he hissed. "Do I need to remind you of what´s at stake here?"

"The world is at stake here." Hiro insisted.

"Because we´re taking the body of a man that is already dead to the world?"

"Yes. The body of Nathan Petrelli was an important part of the events that followed his death. He has a role to play, even in death."

Perkins only laughed and shook his head, making Hiro angry again.

"Without his body … Peter Petrelli will not understand that his brother is dead." he did his best to convince this man about the importance of his words. "And even if … the body is needed to stage the accident we all saw in the news, telling the world that Nathan Petrelli died. Right?"

He looked at Matt, searching help and confirmation from his friend.

"Right." Matt affirmed, not happy about the fact that Hiro tried to get him on his side in this discussion.

"If those things don´t happen …" the time traveler went on. "Anything could happen."

"If they do happen, my family is dead, Hiro." Matt cried, the desperation immanent in his voice and his eyes.

Hiro felt awful, seeing this, but somehow he managed it to hold that gaze.

"I´m sorry, Matt Parkman." he said quietly. "I really am. But I can´t risk the whole world for only two lives. Too many others are at stake here. I´m really sorry."

"Yeah, so am I." was all Matt replied to that, taking one tiny step back.

Hiro didn´t know what to say anymore. He didn´t want this. He wanted Matt´s family to be save too. But there were certain lines that must never be crossed. Sometimes the path of a hero was a painful one.

He wanted to tell Matt, he wanted to let him know how sorry he was, but he didn´t even get the chance to open his mouth. Before he even knew what happened Matt had swung a fist at him and a moment later all the lights went out.

...

"Are you crazy?" Perkins cried, grabbing Parkman´s arm. But Parkman didn´t make a move intending to do any more to the unconscious man on the ground. Perkins just couldn´t believe what just happened. "You just knocked out our third man." he cried into Parkman´s face.

"We can do that without him." the man that was supposed to be the hostage, replied. "All we need him for is to bring us back to our time when everything is over."

Perkins let go of his arm, uncertain what to think. This was not the way things had been planned.

"Forget your plan." Parkman said. "Plans don´t work when you face people with abilities. You never know what will happen."

"Obviously." Perkins pointed at the unconscious Hiro.

"We don´t need him." Parkman replied, making Perkins fume with anger.

"You are not in charge here, Parkman." he shouted into his face.

But this time he failed to intimidate the man that had crouched under his shout the first time they´d met. Back then, when his only coherent thought had been the safety of his family. A safety that had suddenly ceased to exist. But as it seemed the one thing that had made him weak back then, was giving him strength now, when he stood his ground against Perkins.

"We are here because of my family." he shouted right back into Perkins face. "That means I´m in charge or no one is, understand? I went through this whole thing over a dozen times, since your boss told me her demands. I know what we have to do."

When he was done with his speech, he took a step back from Perkins, looking him over with disgust.

"Now are you coming or not?"

Perkins swallowed. That was definitely not the way things had been planned to happen. He glanced down on the knocked out man one last time and then nodded. What other choice did he have anyway? There was a mission to accomplish and he´d been sent here to make sure it would be done.