Butterfly Effect

The hallway before the conference room was crowded with secret service. A total lockdown had been ordered. The four unconscious intruders got carried out on stretchers, soon to be transferred to the state facility nearby, highest possible security. Two of them were known fugitives after all.

Despite Juliet´s try to get him someplace save, the president had refused to be removed from the scene. Still she wouldn´t allow him to get anywhere near that room anymore and when the stretchers got carried by, she efficiently blocked his way, so he wouldn´t get closer to them than absolutely necessary.

"It´s for your own safety, Mr. President." she insisted and when he gave her a look, she added adamantly: "That´s what you´re paying me for."

Before he could give a response, Lassiter came marching back to them, Burton Guster following right behind.

"Carlton." the president dismissed the stubborn woman before him and turned to the secret service agent. "What the heck is going on here?" he demanded to know. "Please, tell me I had a defective vision earlier. This man you just carried out here … He looked just like me."

"He did, Mr. President." Lassiter confirmed, a deep frown on his forehead. "So far we have no idea who he is."

"Maybe it´s Sylar." Mohinder Suresh suggested tentatively. "He´s a shapeshifter after all."

"If it is him, we´ll find out." Juliet promised. "I´ll interrogate him myself."

"No, Jules." the president objected at once. „If that is really Sylar, I don´t want you to be in the same room with him. He´s too dangerous."

Juliet only gave him a blank face. "I can watch out for myself." she told him.

He smiled. His hands went up to her shoulders and caressed them gently. "I know." he said, placing a kiss on her mouth. "That´s why you married me."

Juliet held his gaze sternly. Only someone who knew both of them very well would be able to see the affection that was hidden in her professional gaze. Nathan sure as hell saw it.

"Carlton can question the … impersonator." he decided.

"Yes, sir." Lassiter immediately shouted, eager to execute this order of his president. "What about the others?" he asked. "Any orders?"

Nathan looked at him musing for a moment. "Did you restrain them?" he then asked.

"We did." Gus answered promptly, his gaze as professional as Juliet´s.

"Restrained?" Mohinder repeated. "You mean you drugged them."

"Nakamura is a teleporter." Gus replied defensively. "We need to make sure he will not escape."

"Still." the president raised a hand. "We don´t want to harm him or any of the others more than necessary." he stated.

Gus looked at him. "Of course not." he replied and the president nodded.

"I´m sure Matt has a good reason for being with these people." the geneticist turned to face the president again. "So must Hiro."

"We´ll ask them." Nathan nodded. "Carlton. You take care of the impersonator."

Lassiter gave a quick nod and left without another word.

"Jules."

"On it, Mr. President." she replied and was gone, her steps even more determined than Lassiter´s.

Her husband was looking after her, his head askew. The president of the united states glanced over to Mohinder Suresh.

"Will I ever get her to stop doing this?" he asked.

The geneticist chuckled. "I´m afraid not, Mr. President." he said and made the other man stare at him with an open mouth.

"Now you start with that, too?" he cried and started to walk, Mohinder following right at his side. "God, what have I done wrong?" he wondered out loud, sure his question would be positively identified as rhetorical. The doctor seemed inclined to answer it anyway.

"I´d say becoming the leader of the free world and mankind´s best good hope was the mistake." he suggested and gave a shrug. "But I could be wrong."

Nathan threw him a glance. "Don´t flatter me, Mohinder." he growled. "You know how this ends."

"With a week of unbearable selfconfidence." the scientist nodded. "You´re right. Forget what I said."

"Careful, doctor." Nathan raised a warning finger at him, his face serious as it could be. "I´m still the president." he reminded him and then turned around without transition. "By the way. Gus, where´s Shawn?" he asked the younger man. "I want him here to do the interrogations."

"He´s in hospital with Abigail." Gus informed him and made the president stop dead in his tracks.

"I thought she has two months left." Nathan cried irritated, a little worried.

Gus rolled his eyes. "She has." he affirmed. "And she´s perfectly healthy. I´ve told him perhaps a dozen times."

"He´s just nervous." Mohinder defended the overprotective behavior of the absent man. "It´s the first time for him to be a father."

Nathan nodded. "Who could blame him?" he agreed. "Still, give him a call, Guster. Tell him I need him here."

"Yes, sir." Gus answered and turned around on his heel.

Mohinder threw Nathan an asking glance. "What are we doing now?" he wanted to know, earning a dead serious glare from the other man.

"I want to have a talk with Hiro Nakamura." the president of the united states decided.

...

When his cell phone had started ringing, Shawn was too busy to answer it right away. He was in the process of convincing his wife to let the doctors run just one more test and that the body of a pregnant woman could deceive when it told you it was feeling fine.

Of course Abby didn´t agree and that´s what made it such a hard piece of work. At days like this he wished his gift was more than a once in a while subconscious thing that his brain liked to spit out when it felt like it. Like a lightswitch that only operated on its own terms and not when light was needed. Or wanted. He wished he had more control over it, that he could use it, now for example, to convince Abby that he was right. Because he knew he was right. She was only too stubborn to see that.

When he finally answered the phone, he practically shouted at Gus.

"Yeah."

"Dammit, Shawn, what are you doing?" his friend asked. "I´ve been ringing for over five minutes."

"I´m in the hospital, dude. Cell phones are not allowed in here."

"As if you would care. Abby´s not dying, Shawn, she´s giving birth. So stop worrying about her and get the hell back to work."

And those had been the words that had tipped the scales for Shawn. Not because of Gus´ demand but because of the words he´d just used. Something in Shawn´s mind made click at this and he barely heard the rest of what Gus had to say.

" … wants you to come here ASAP." was the last thing he registered consciously and then a brief pause. "Shawn? Did you even hear what I said?"

"Sure." he claimed, knowing that Gus didn´t believe a single word. "Don´t worry, I´m on my way." he promised and hung up before Gus could yell at him again. But not just to avoid that. He needed to check his messages. Right now.

...

Shawn closed the door of his company car and critically eyed the building across the parking lot. NSA headquarters. He knew that building from the inside out, for over two years now. Ever since Suresh´s test had revealed that he was no psychic, ever since his services for the S.B.P.D. had stopped being a charade. Ever since he´d stopped being a fraud … and life had stopped being fun.

Sometimes Shawn still stopped and allowed himself to miss the old times. The time when he and his buddy had pretended to be psychic detectives, private investigators that were not bound to the book of rules, Lassie and Jules had to follow. A time where they´d been free to do practically whatever they thought was best to solve the case.

But those times were long gone and there was no sense in wishing them back. What they did now was an important job and they did a good job of it. Their task force had taken down more dangerous specials than the CIA or the FBI and alone the number of lives they´d saved with that – the whole world on one tragic occasion – was enough to accept a small lack of fun in their lives.

Shawn sighed, determined, and started to walk.

"So what´s the status." he asked the desk sergeant when he entered the building, but she didn´t even get a chance to open her mouth. His name was already shouted through the whole bullpen.

"Spencer!"

"Lassie!" Shawn greeted back with a smile. "So. You caught Hiro the teleporter, huh?"

Lassiter frowned. "How do you know that already?"

Shawn raised a hand to his temple in a gesture that was long history and smiled. A moment later he dropped it again. "What do you wanna hear?" he asked.

Lassiter gave him a face and turned around without a word, to lead the way. "You haven´t done that for quiet a while now." he mentioned.

"Yep. Thought it was time for a refreshment."

"I figure it was Guster who called you."

"You figure right. So what´s the status quo?"

"We have a time traveler, a mindreader …" Lassiter listed the captives when he noticed a sudden stop in Shawn´s steps. "What´s the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing." the former fake psychic claimed and picked up his pace again. "What else do we have?"

"Spencer what the hell …?"

"I can´t tell you that." Shawn talked over him. "Not yet. So just … tell me what else we have."

Lassiter grumbled but returned to his list. "One guy that doesn´t seem to have any form of special ability and an impersonator of the president. Possible shapeshifter."

"Possible Sylar."

"Correct. The president wants you to lead the interrogation but to be honest Spencer …"

"Don´t say it." Shawn interrupted him. "You can have him."

Lassiter stopped, blinking at him, irritated. "I can?"

"Yes. I´ll join you later but first …"

"Spencer, we´ve been after that son of a bitch for years. If that is really him …" at this point he interrupted himself. "You don´t think it´s Sylar, do you?"

"I didn´t say that. I´m in fact convinced … that Sylar is in this building. That we´re indeed so close to finally get him. I´m just not sure how." Lassiter made a face as if his irritation was causing him physical pain. "Spencer, you´re once again not making any sense at all."

Shawn only smiled and padded Lassiter´s shoulder. "Then you should know what to do with it." he said and gave the head of secret service a nod.

"It is Sylar." Lassiter told him. "I know it. He had blood all over his shirt but not one scratch on him. The clothing is in the evidence room, have a look at it if you like. We know that Sylar can heal his wounds so tell me how it cannot be him."

Shawn didn´t tell him that. He only nodded, accepting the words of his fellow agent. "I´ll join you later." he said at last. "Promise. And if it´s really him, I´ll make him tell us. But first I want to have a look at our time traveler."

"And what the hell is that supposed to prove?" Lassiter cried after him, arms spread in exasperation.

Shawn stopped for a second, turning back around to him. "I´m not sure yet. But I tell you when I know." With that he turned around and hurried down the corridors, heading for the holding cells.

...

As it turned out he didn´t find Nakamura in his cell anymore. Instead he learned that the president himself had ordered to bring him into interrogation room D. Weird enough already. But after that text message … he wasn´t sure about anything anymore. When he reached the viewing room, he found the president and Mohinder Suresh there, watching Juliet through the two way mirror, questioning the Japanese man.

"Shawn." the president greeted him with a smile. "Glad you could join us."

Shawn nodded at the two men and stepped in.

"How´s Abigail?"

"She´s doing good." Shawn answered and on the spur of the moment, he added: "She´s not dying after all but giving birth."

The two men laughed and nodded. Shawn only smiled back, warily. He didn´t know why he´d expected them to react in any other way to these words. It had been a try.

So this was obviously not where he was supposed to look. Back to the prisoner then.

Jules was currently leaning over the table, facing Nakamura intently.

"There are at least a dozen guys with guns out there, Mr. Nakamura." she told him. "Did you really think you and your friends could get anywhere near the president without being stopped? We have precautions for people like you, you of all people should know that."

Hiro glanced at the IV standing next to him. "I noticed that." he said with a tiny smile. "But detective O´Hara …"

"That´s agent Petrelli for you." Juliet interrupted him and Shawn noticed the surprised reaction of the prisoner. The time traveler.

"Neither of us was trying to attack the … president." Hiro now told her.

"You didn´t." Juliet repeated, not believing a single word. "Then what were you doing in that room, right in the moment when he was holding his conference with the local authorities?" she demanded to know. "The only time when he´s doing this in a place like this, the perfect opportunity for an assassin to attack. Did you really think, we wouldn´t expect something like that?"

"It was a mistake."

"You´re damn right, it was a mistake." Juliet shot. "What did you plan? To exchange him with a double? Is it Sylar we´re holding in the other cell? Or did you find some other shapeshifter to do that job for you? Whoever it is, Shawn will make him tell us his name, as soon as he gets here, we´ll know everything you´re trying to hide."

But Hiro only shook his head and lowered his gaze, a sad expression in his eyes. "This is not right." he mumbled. "I knew this would happen." he looked up at Juliet with pleading eyes. "Please." he begged. "You must let me go. Maybe I can go back and …"

"Let you go?" Juliet snapped and let out a laugh. "You must be absolutely crazy if you think we´d let you go just like this."

"I´m not an assassin." Hiro assured her. "I´m not your enemy."

Shawn had enough. He turned to the president. It was time to make his move.

"Mr. President, may I have a try with him?"

Nathan Petrelli only nodded, only too eager to let his best man do what he could do best. Shawn mirrored the nod and went into the room, stopping Jules in the middle of a shouting fit. He gave her a reassuring nod, asking her without words to take a break and let him take over.

It needed a deep breath and another deadly glare at the prisoner for her to do so. Shawn lay a hand on her shoulder, only for a moment, when she passed him on her way out. Trust me, this gesture said. We´re going to figure this out.

"Mr. Nakamura." he addressed the man in the chair as soon as they were alone. "Can I call you Hiro?"

Hiro nodded.

"You´ve been on the run from us for quiet a while now." Shawn summarized. "No wonder. Someone who can jump from place to place, half around the world with a thought … Why did you come back now? We caught you far too easy. No offense, Jules." he added, facing the two way mirror for a second and he could almost visualize her smirk at this comment. "So why?" he asked Hiro again.

"I didn´t come here to kill your president." the young man told him.

Shawn regarded him for a moment, nodding. "I believe you." he said and he could imagine the reactions of his friends outside, very well. Especially Jules. But it didn´t change anything.

"I do believe that you didn´t come to kill the president." Shawn repeated. "But that means you came here for another reason. I´m here for a reason too. So maybe we can help each other, what do you think?"

"I could help." Hiro agreed. "If you let me go."

"Not quiet yet." Shawn replied. "First I have a few questions. First … Does the letter combination IMU mean anything to you?"

Hiro stared at him with big confused eyes and Shawn was sure that he was not the only one who didn´t understand where he wanted to go with that.

"No?" Hiro answered at last.

Shawn nodded. "Strange." he found. "I thought you´d know it."

"Why should I?"

"Because …" Shawn walked over to the two way mirror and nonchalantly switched off the intercom, giving the people behind it a face that said: trust me, I know what I´m doing. That would earn him at least a few minutes alone with Nakamura. He turned back to the prisoner, who looked frightened and uncertain.

"You know that my wife is pregnant?" Shawn asked and Hiro shook his head. No, he didn´t know.

"She´s not dying, just giving birth, you know." Shawn went on. "Doesn´t ring a bell?" he asked but Hiro´s face stayed as blank as before.

"I don´t understand." he said and Shawn lost his patience.

"I got a text message." he told him and got his cell phone out to show him. "Abby´s not dying, she´s giving birth." he read it for Hiro. "Those are the exact same words Gus used when he called me to come here. Half an hour ago."

Hiro looked up to him, still confused. "And?"

"I got this message three years ago. Signed by someone that only calls himself IMU. So how could this Mr. IMU know what Gus would say to me today? Except …" he only gave Hiro a look.

"I didn´t send those messages." Hiro claimed.

"You´re a time traveler, Hiro."

"But … it wasn´t me."

"The message is not done with the quote." Shawn went on, losing his patience more and more. „It demands from me that I should check out another message I got, message number 17. And what do you think this message said?"

"I don´t know."

"It told me to come here. Right now. That I would find Sylar here. Instead I find you here." He took the second chair and sat down across from Hiro. "Tell me how that fits." he demanded, putting more than just emphasis into his words. He needed an answer and Hiro would give him one. Now.

Hiro blinked, under the influence. "But … you found Sylar here." he stated matter of factly.

For a moment Shawn was not sure what to think. But then he jumped up, grabbing for the taser-gun on his belt.

"No, no!" Hiro cried, raising both hands. "It´s not me. I meant … I am not Sylar. I am Hiro Nakamura."

"Well, since Lassie and Jules said you appeared from out of nowhere, I believe you might be telling the truth. But on the other hand … you could have killed Hiro and taken on his form … and his powers."

Again Shawn faced the other man intently, demanding the truth in what he would tell him next.

"I didn´t." Hiro claimed. "I mean, he didn´t. I am Hiro. But I know where Sylar is."

Shawn narrowed his eyes. So that was the moment. "Where?" he asked.

Hiro glanced over at the two way mirror and leaned forward, telling him in a whisper: "He´s in the other room, watching us."

Shawn threw an uncertain glance at the mirror.

"It´s the man you know as the president." Hiro revealed at last and made Shawn frown down on him. In the end he snorted.

"That´s kinda desperate, don´t you think?"

"It´s the truth." Hiro insisted. "Please, you must tell me what happened since that day in the Stanton Hotel in Washington."

Now Shawn was totally lost in translation. "Come again?"

"Something went wrong." Hiro told him. "We went to the past, Matt Parkman and I. We were forced to do that. To change the past. I tried to stop them but I was too slow. When we came back everything was different. This is not the way things should be. Something went wrong and I need to fix it."

Shawn halted, deeply worried. Now it was already the second time this happened to him over the course of only one hour. Hiro was telling the truth, there was no doubt. Because he´d demanded from him to tell the truth. And there was no reason for him to believe this time traveler would have a second ability, that would help him withstand the demand.

"Fix it, huh?" he repeated.

"Where´s Noah Bennet?" Hiro demanded to know. "Ask him and he´ll tell you …"

"Noah Bennet?" Shawn talked right over him. "Who´s that?"

This time it was Hiro, who frowned, worried.

"Um …"

"Noah Bennet died three years ago." the voice of president Petrelli spoke up behind Shawn. "Along with my brother and my daughter."

Shawn turned around, facing the president in the door, Mohinder Suresh and Jules right behind him.

"The Cheerleader …" Hiro Nakamura mumbled in shock. "And Peter Petrelli … are dead?"

Shawn turned back to him and saw honest shock in this man´s face. "Sylar killed them both." he told him. "What makes it hard for me to believe … what you just told me."

"Did you get anything from him?" the president demanded a report.

"Not quiet sure, Mr. President." Shawn answered promptly, never taking his eyes off the prisoner.

"He is … hard to crack. Guess I´m missing the right questions." He hesitated, briefly. "Would you excuse me for a second?" he asked at last, leaving the room without waiting for an answer.

Two years of working so close to this man, had earned him the right to act like that, even if it was the president he was treating that way. A privilege very few people had. Outside in the corridor, he took out his cell phone once again, quickly checking his messages.

"Shawn, what the hell are you doing?" Juliet spoke up behind him. Her gaze was unmistakable, she demanded an explanation, but Shawn had no time to deal with her now. He simply shushed her, waving an impatient hand at her until he´d found what he´d been looking for.

"I´ll be damned." he breathed.

"What?" she asked, her eyes worried. Worried about her husband´s safety.

Shawn only held up his cell for her, even though he knew it wouldn´t tell her anything. "Fix it." he read the message for her and shook his head, already searching for message number 8, the one he was supposed to look up, according to this former. This one was longer than usual … but not half as confusing as the others. Not anymore.

It read: "If I could go back to where this all started then maybe I can save her … One, two, three, four … but you better promise me I´ll be back in time"

"I´ll be damned." he mumbled again.

Next to him Jules made a sound of exasperation but before she could demand an explanation from him, the door to the interrogation room was opened and Mohinder Suresh stepped out, closing the door behind him.

"What …?" Shawn exclaimed. "Suresh, what are you doing here?"

"The president asked me to leave." the geneticist answered. "He wanted to talk to the prisoner alone."

Shawn didn´t know why he felt the urge to move all the sudden but he was back inside that room within seconds. The president was standing before a very tensed Hiro Nakamura when he burst through the door, both of them swirling around to him, and Shawn noticed two things at once. First: the president seemed very annoyed about this disturbance and second: Hiro Nakamura didn´t. Quiet the contrary. He seemed relieved. Very relieved.

"Mr. President. I´m sorry to interrupt you but I need to tell you something." Shawn cried.

"What is it, Spencer?" Nathan Petrelli asked. "I´m busy as you can see."

"I know but this is important." Shawn insisted. "Jules, would you leave us alone, please?"

Of course she wasn´t the only one who reacted unsure about this request, but after a glance at Nathan who told her with a nod that it was okay, she left. Suresh was in the process of following her, but Shawn called him back.

"Not you." he said. "I´ll need you for this."

He went to the door and locked it, nodding at the two men, telling them to just trust him, that they would understand what he had in mind soon. Two years of faithful service for president Nathan Petrelli made the two men stand back, accepting his unspoken word.

"Mr. Nakamura." Shawn addressed the prisoner again, starting to walk around the room. "You said that you … want to fix it. Is that correct?"

"Yes." Hiro answered and Shawn nodded, still pacing the room.

"I´m inclined to agree with you." he said.

Of course Nathan and Mohinder were turning around to him, startled.

"What does that mean, Spencer?" the president demanded to know. "What are you talking about?"

"Mr. President." Shawn addressed him. "I apologize in advance for every physical accident my next action might cause."

"What …?" but more he didn´t get to say. Shawn´s taser was on his neck, shooting electrical charges into him, until the president of the United States broke down to the ground. Next to him a second taser did the same thing to Suresh.

"Nathan!" Juliet´s voice came from behind the mirror. Muffled but loud enough for Shawn to understand her words, her curses and threats of what would happen if he wouldn´t open the door immediately. But of course he couldn´t do that. He wanted to keep living.

Shawn threw the two tasers down, not in any need for them anymore. "Always have a second one in case you might need it." he quoted the lesson from his dad and hurried over to the prisoner.

"What are you doing?" Hiro cried over the sounds of Juliet´s attempt to break the door.

"Right now …" Shawn quickly removed the IV from Hiro´s hand. "Ruining my career. That´s why I hope you have some good reasons for wanting to `Fix It´."

"I do." Hiro assured him. "Thank you." He stood up and was about to squeeze his eyes shut, obviously planning to vanish the next second. But Shawn grabbed his arm, holding him back.

"What …?" Hiro stared at him with confusion.

"I´m coming with you." Shawn told him matter of factly, reaching down to grab both Nathan´s and Mohinder´s wrists with one hand. "And so do these two."

"What … ?"

"I don´t know." Shawn snapped. "All I know is that this is supposed to be like that and that Jules will be really pissed as soon as she breaks that door open. So you better get us the hell out of here."

He could see Hiro hesitating but hesitating was something they couldn´t afford right now. The wood of the door was already cracking under Jules´ furious kicks. She would be in here any second.

"You´re not going anywhere alone, dude." Shawn told Hiro, not allowing any kind of argument. "So you better hurry."

The door cracked, exploding inwards at last and Hiro shut his eyes.