Clearances

Angela Petrelli´s eyes snapped open, staring widely, in panic. Peter. In no time she was up, out of the armchair where she´d fallen asleep, and at the telephone in the parlor. She knew the number by heart but when she heard the signal that told her it was ringing, she already knew he wouldn´t answer.

Still she waited. Two rings. Three. Four. Five. Angela closed her eyes, knowing that the phone was ringing in an evidence box, locked away in a small room. She´d seen it.

She hung up, her hand shaking, her chest tight with concern. From the kitchen she could hear the voice of Heidi, chatting with Mr. Nakamura. And Dr. Suresh, only he didn´t talk to any of them. His voice was overlapping their words, talking to someone else, on the phone. Probably Noah.

He hung up just when she entered the kitchen and glanced from her to Molly. Not concerned. Not yet. Heidi and Hiro halted in their chat, uncertain. Angela smiled.

"I´m sorry, Heidi." she said. "But our guests are leaving now."

"We do?" Hiro asked, allowing to be directed to the door.

"Yes." Angela said. "And Molly is going with you."

"I do?"

Angela didn´t answer anymore, just shoved them all through the hallway, to the front door. Her guests were rather mystified about this sudden lack of hostility, but that was something she couldn´t change. The girl stopped at the door, turning around to her.

"Shell I get my stuff?" she asked.

"Never mind that, sweetheart." Angela replied. "You can gather that later. Right now it´s just important that you get to our friends, to keep working from there."

"Did something happen?" Dr. Suresh asked, his tone low. Now his eyes were concerned.

"You can say that." Angela affirmed. "They arrested Peter. And they will soon come to arrest me too."

"What?"

"I saw it in a dream. That´s why you need to leave before they get here. No need for them to arrest you too."

"You should come with us." Hiro cried but Angela shook her head.

"No. The order to arrest Peter and me is part of this conspiracy lie, Shana has made up. If I run we only play into her hands. We must not do that. Besides. If I´m not here when they come, they´ll question Heidi and the boys to find me and that is something I´d like to avoid."

The poor doctor looked at her, rather helpless. "What are we supposed to do now?" he asked.

"I thought that was obvious, Doctor. Find Nathan. Bring him back to his senses. Preferably before he assassinates the President."

She gave Suresh just enough time to perform a nod, before she urged them all out of the door.

"Now go." she ordered. "I don´t know how much time you have …"

But in this moment she´d already spotted the police car driving down the street, towards them.

"I guess I know it after all." she said, and they all swirled around, glancing down the street in shock. When they turned back to her, she simply smiled.

"Good luck, gentlemen. For all of us."

Hiro, although very upset about her decision to send them away, performed a quick bow, silently obeying her wish to leave her behind. Dr. Suresh nodded as well. And that was it. No more words were spoken. Angela watched them leave until they were gone, vanished out of sight, around the corner.

Down in the street, the black and white had stopped before her house, the two officers getting out, to do their duty. Angela sighed, glancing at the corner one last time. Everything else would be up to them now.

...

"So we lost Angela and Peter." Bennet summarized with a huff. "Means we have a loss of manpower before we even started."

Shawn threw a glance at Gus, meeting worried eyes. That was not a good start.

"We didn´t lose them." Mohinder objected to the choice of words. "They just got arrested."

"And Peter Petrelli took my power." Hiro agreed. "So he can come back to us."

"If that is so, why isn´t he here?" Bennet gestured around, his brows raised and expectedly Hiro didn´t have an answer to that.

"I think we can assume that they sedated him, to keep him from an escape attempt." Bennet grumbled. "Anyway, he won´t come back."

Shawn noticed, only by coincidence, how Sylar´s expression changed from worry to downright shocked, only for a moment, and then the killer simply dropped his gaze, thinking to himself. Shawn doubted that anyone else had seen it.

"Why should they do that?" Hiro asked, not less shocked about this idea. "They don´t know about his power … do they?"

"They don´t need to know, as long as Matt makes them believe it´s a good idea to keep him sedated." Bennet replied.

"We need to get Matt out of there." Mohinder repeated his original plan. "He´s the only one who can convince Nathan that all this is a mistake."

"I still don´t understand why this woman wanted Petrelli alive." Lassiter mused. "If he was the one directly responsible for the program that killed her sister, she should be glad that he´s dead."

"Except she wants some form of poetic justice." Bennet replied and earned an asking look from almost everyone around. "Making the one man responsible, kill the second one who sanctioned it." he explained his train of thoughts. "Killing two birds with one stone."

Shawn chuckled and threw a glance at Gus. "Animal abusers." he commented.

"Diabolic." Gus agreed.

"Interesting theory." Juliet admitted. "But you just assumed that she really knew about Nathan´s involvement. Maybe she had no idea."

"Oh, she knew." Bennet assured her and Lassiter nodded.

"We can´t know that." she insisted, facing her partner in disbelieve.

"Do you really think she would have made all those efforts without having all the background info?" he asked her in return. "Come on, O´Hara, you´re a woman too."

Juliet closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head in confusion. "What has that to do with it?"

"Am I the only one here," Sylar interrupted the discussion. "who realizes that we´re wasting value time by wondering about her motives, while we should think about how to prevent an assassination? As far as we know, they could be already in the process of pulling the trigger."

"Unlikely." was Bennet´s dry response. "No one gets near the President just like this. Not even a recently resurrected senator."

There was a brief silence after that sentence. Not even Noah could miss the meaning of his own words. Eventually Lassiter wagged his head.

"Although that fact should speed up the usual procedure quiet a bit." he mentioned, and for the first time Shawn could remember, Bennet looked thrown off balance. Even he had to admit that this was a very unusual door opener.

Bennet sighed. "Okay, so what do you suggest we do?" he asked.

His question was directed to Lassiter, but it was Mohinder who answered.

"We should focus on getting to Matt." he repeated. "He´s the one who planted that idea of a conspiracy in Nathan´s head. He´s the only one who can correct that."

"As far as I remember, he wouldn´t listen to you, last time you saw him." Bennet recalled.

"He will, when we tell him that his family is save." Sylar supported the idea.

Bennet only looked at him with piercing eyes, not saying anything. After a moment, he simply dismissed him and faced Mohinder again.

"There´s still the problem about how to reach him."

"He can." Sylar spoke up again, not willing to be ignored like that. He pointed at Hiro.

The young Japanese nodded eagerly in agreement.

Bennet considered the idea for a moment. "You´d have to be very careful, Hiro." he said. "No one must notice that you´re there. As soon as they suspect, Matt might know about his family, they won´t let him come near Nathan anymore. Not alive. And that would mean our plan is screwed."

"I understand." Hiro nodded very serious.

"All right." Bennet mirrored the nod. He turned around, to face Molly. "We should try it."

...

The hotel suite was silent behind him, as silent as the city he was looking at, its natural sounds blocked out from the window. It was strange. Nathan wasn´t quiet sure why, but it almost felt as if the glass he was looking through, separated him from more than just the cool night air. As if there was a whole other world out there, one that he might be able to see but not quiet understand. Because … because of … something.

He raised a hand, frowning at his own movement, and touched the glass, carefully as if it could shatter, or burn him the instant he made contact. But nothing of this happened. Only his palm on the cool surface. Absolutely normal glass. Nothing else. And still …

Behind him he could hear the sound of a door, but somehow he couldn´t bring himself to care. Right now his own hand on that glass seemed so much more important. And he didn´t even know why.

"Nathan?" Shana´s voice spoke up, uncertain, careful. And then she was by his side, two glasses of Whiskey in her hand, eying him with concern. "Is everything all right?" she asked.

"It just feels so … unreal." he spoke, still not able to take his eyes off the glass.

Eventually he realized how ridiculous it was to stare at his own hand like that and took it down, smiling, shaking his head about his own foolishness.

"I know." Shana said understandingly. "That´s because of the drugs they gave you, to keep you contained. It will go away."

"No, I mean …" he shook his head, partly to clear his own thoughts again. "That´s not what I mean."

"What do you mean?" she asked, her eyes clear and so blue, as if she was looking right into him.

Nathan needed a moment to find the answer to her question. He glanced outside again, letting the moment sink in, all those mixed feelings that were fighting inside of him, to find the one that was troubling him the most.

"It´s … Peter." he said at last, frowning against this thought. "I don´t understand why he was a part of all this. It´s not like him."

"People change, Nathan." Shana said. "Even your brother."

"Not like this." Nathan shook his head. "Not Peter."

"I know it hurts. But sometimes people leave us behind. Sometimes we get betrayed by the people we trusted most."

"I just don´t understand it."

"You don´t have to. Just accept it."

Nathan threw her a glance. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"By focusing on our mission." she said but he only shook his head.

Her eyes flickered, briefly.

"Maybe he´s innocent." she said, changing in his direction. "Maybe they made him do it. By manipulating him, blackmail, something. We´ll find out. I promise. Right now he´s save. And we need to focus on our goal, Nathan." she placed the glass in his hand, her eyes never leaving his.

"As soon as the President is dead, all this will be over." she said. "After that they´ll have no other choice but to investigate his inner circle. And then the truth will finally come to light. And then … you can take care of Peter."

Nathan looked into her eyes, intense, demanding, pleading. And he nodded.

"You´re right." he said, smiling and the fear in her eyes vanished. She knew he was with her, now she knew it, again. "Of course, you´re right."

He took a sip from his glass, allowing the soft liquid to leave a sharp trail down his throat, warming his insides. The city out there was still far away, still silent behind the glass.

Next to him Shana was drinking from her own glass, her eyes never leaving him, until he turned back to her. As soon as she met his eyes, the asking expression left her face, making room for a passionate glimmer. She smiled and nodded at him, once.

"So now, Senator." she started over, leaving the previous talk behind. "This is where your part begins. How do we get into the White House?"

Nathan lowered his eyes, thinking for a moment. A moment was all he needed and the decision was made.

...

Sylar was watching. It seemed that was pretty much all he did lately. How he´d ended up on the sidelines he didn´t know and he didn´t care. All he knew was that he didn´t like it.

Molly´s eyes were closed. She was still looking. Looking for Parkman. Hoping that he would be alone on a certain point, or at least out of sight, so Nakamura could go and talk to him.

It was starting to get frustrating. How long were they doing this now? Sylar sighed. Why did he even wonder about that? He knew exactly how long. And that was exactly the reason why he felt like smashing something into the wall by now.

That and something else.

Molly stirred in her seat, the frown on her forehead loosened a little. She hesitated. One moment, two.

"He´s alone now." she cried at last and opened her eyes. "He´s in the bathroom, of hotel room number 709." she informed them and Hiro nodded, straightening his back.

Before he could go, Janice Parkman lay a hand on his shoulder, facing him. "Matt." she said as if she spoke into a camera. "I love you. Promise me that you´ll come back to us."

Hiro smiled, nodding at her, once. She mirrored his nod and then he stepped back, closing his eyes. A second later he was gone, the rest of them waiting in utter silence. There was nothing else they could do now. Just wait.

Sylar threw a glance at Mohinder, who was padding Molly´s shoulder, reassuring her that she did good, that things would be all right again. Sylar started to move, slowly making his way over to them. When the girl noticed his approach, her head snapped toward him, her eyes carefully aware, hard.

"Keep your distance." she hissed at him, leaving no room for arguments. And even though Sylar had not expected her to be pleased by his presence, he was taken aback by that amount of hostility.

He noticed the hard eyes of Janice Parkman, in the background. She was watching him warily, ever since they´d gotten back from L.A. And Bennet´s gaze of course, simply watching his every move, without any sign of emotional attachment.

Instinctively he searched Mohinder's eyes. But the geneticist didn´t seem much more supportive than the others, his eyes just a little less harsh, at best.

"You heard her." was all he said, before quietly taking a seat next to Molly.

Sylar took a breath. And there it was. The second reason why he felt like smashing something into the wall, for over an hour now. But regarding all the other eyes on him, he decided it was probably a better alternative to just retrieve. The situation was already tensed enough even without him smashing half of Henry Spencer´s living room.

On his way to the other end of the room, he met the first pair of eyes that was not hostile or judging. Quiet the contrary. Shawn seemed to be as frustrated about the whole situation as he was, actually sharing his feelings about it. Or maybe that was just him, wishing, reading it into the younger man´s gaze.

He turned his eyes away from him and finished his way to lean against the wall, huffing, staring at the kitchen table, one of the main sources of his bad mood. Both of them were avoiding his gaze, pretending he wasn´t even there. The only one that still acknowledged his presence was Bennet, still watching him, still letting him know that he was aware of his every move. Sylar only stared back at him, until they both got tired of that game.

After a while Shawn appeared by his side, hands in his pockets.

"Hey, dude." he whispered. "Everything okay?"

Sylar threw a glance to the other side of the room, to the kitchen table. "No." he rasped and after another moment he sighed in frustration. "This plan is not gonna work."

"You think so, huh?" Shawn looked at him estimating. "Then why did you support it earlier?"

Sylar didn´t give an answer but Shawn didn´t seem to need one. He only threw a brief glance over his shoulder, at the kitchen table, and nodded.

"I see." After quickly clearing his throat, he told him: "I´m not a fan of just sitting around waiting, either. So if you have a better idea what we should do, I´m with you."

Sylar stared at him, surprised. But then he saw the serious gaze of his younger friend and he understood, smiling appreciatively.

"I let you know if I have an idea." he said.

"Great." Shawn exclaimed, moving in front of him, so that his body was shielding the fist he held out for Sylar. His eyes were looking somewhere else, his face the most obvious one the killer had ever seen.

Sylar couldn´t help the smile that came over him, seeing this. Why, oh why, was Shawn still so much himself and Mohinder wasn´t? He bumped his own fist into Shawn´s, for some strange reason feeling more detached than ever, and Shawn turned around, nonchalantly walking away, as if their talk had never happened.

...

Matt watched the two guards Shana had assigned to watch over him. One of them was sitting on the desk across the room, the other one stood at the window, looking out. They would stay here with him until tomorrow, never leaving him out of their sight. Not that Shana had to worry, he might run. But obviously she preferred it to make sure than to simply trust.

Of course, he thought. It´s one hell of a plan they have. A plan he read in her mind by now, not caring anymore if she objected or not. But she didn´t and that alone troubled him. Because it meant there was nothing in her head, she wouldn´t want him to know. The fact that Jan and Mattie might be free by now for example.

Matt sighed. If that would have happened, she would know it. She just had to know. But she didn´t. There was nothing in her mind that indicated anything in this regard. And that could only mean that his only hope, the possibility that Hiro might have vanished to save them, was lost. Maybe Matt was a helpless idealist but he´d really believed that Hiro had it inside of him, to forgive him the betrayal, for the sake of Jan and the boy.

But the way things looked he hadn´t. Either that or he was dead. How could Matt know? He didn´t even know where Hiro went after they came back, with Nathan.

This was ridiculous. He should be able to do something. He should just reach out for the minds of these two guys, planting a thought into their head, maybe making them see him still sitting here, while for real, he walked out of here, out to … yeah to do what? To take the next flight back home, back to L.A.? His power over other peoples minds only held for so long, especially when it came to simple illusions. They would know that he was gone, long before he even got near that hotel. If they were even still there.

Maybe Shana had ordered a constant moving around of the hostages, to make sure he wouldn´t find them. In that case he wouldn´t know even if he melted away all of Shana´s brain substance.

God, he should have listened to Mohinder. He should have let them help. Maybe they could have done it. Screw Sylar, but he´d meant what he´d said, when they´d talked to him. Matt had seen it in his mind. Why? Why hadn´t he allowed them to help? It could be over now. But he´d been scared. Scared for the life of his family. And he´d been angry, unable to trust.

He still wouldn´t trust Sylar, if he´d be here now, repeating this offer. But if he would have the chance to do it all over again, now Matt would agree, shoving all his doubts and fears aside, to cling to this last strand that might be able to save his wife and child.

But that strand was gone. He´d ripped it out when it had presented itself to him and now he was alone in this rushing river that was dragging him down, mercilessly. It was all his fault, and his fault alone.

The guard was staring at him, even more suspicious than before and eventually Matt couldn´t stand it any longer. He got up from his seat, crossing the room, heading for the bathroom door. When the guard sat up in his chair, the other one turning around, he halted, pointing at the door.

"You want to join me?" he asked. When neither of them answered, he took the handle. "I didn´t think so."

First he simply stood there, staring at the toilet, eying it like a dangerous device, something that could bite him if he used it, even got too close to it. What was he doing here? He didn´t even need to pee that urgently. He´d only wanted to get away from these guys out there, even if it was for only a few minutes. But standing here and playing staredown with the john would not get him anywhere.

And since he was here anyway …

He was just done, his hand reaching out to push the flushing, when the sound of air snapping was audible behind him. Matt swirled around on instinct, and found himself face to face with Hiro Nakamura. In no time he swirled back around, cursing under his breath, quickly trying to cover himself, to save at least this last pitiful rest of his dignity.

He could hear Hiro gasp behind him, quickly turning around himself.

"I´m very sorry, Matt Parkman." he cried. „I didn´t mean to embarrass you."

Matt cursed once again, this time over the volume of Hiro´s voice.

"My god, Hiro." he whispered, turning back to him after his pants were zipped up. "Where the hell have you been?" he hissed as quietly as he could.

Hiro smiled at him widely. "Rescuing your family." he told him, quietly.

Matt almost believed he´d misunderstood him. "What?"

"Yes." Hiro´s smile grew even wider. "Your wife and child are save, Matt Parkman."

Matt couldn´t stop himself from laughing out in relief at this.

"And you … I mean … are you sure they´re …?"

"Yes." Hiro assured him. "You can stop helping the villainess now."

Matt´s smile faltered a little, the doubts he´d carried until this moment, returning to him.

"And there is really no mistake?" he asked. "They are really save?"

Once again Hiro smiled, nodding at him, once. "I have a message for you." he told him quietly and all Matt needed was to see the look in his eyes.

He immediately focused his concentration, reaching out for Hiro´s mind. And there she was. Janice. Beautiful as always, barely ten minutes ago, touching Hiro´s shoulder, looking into his eyes, speaking the most beautiful words Matt could ever think of. Yes, she was save. And so was Mattie. Finally, finally it was over.

Matt closed his eyes. "Oh, thanks god."

A harsh knock against the door, made him jerk. "Hey!" one of the guards shouted through the door. "You done any time soon?"

Matt hurried to flash the toilet, giving them something to hear.

"You need to erase the lies they made you put into Nathan Petrelli´s head." Hiro whispered at him over the sound of the flush. "He must stop believing Shana is on his side. He must see the truth. That she is evil."

Matt threw him a glance, frantically washing his hands, and nodded. "I know." he breathed. "Don´t worry." He grabbed the towel. "You better leave now."

Hiro didn´t say anything else, just nodded once, and then he was gone.

Matt put the towel back, taking a deep breath, before he stepped out of the bathroom.

"What were you doing in there so long?" his guard demanded to know.

Matt only looked at him, a startled frown on his forehead. "Are you serious?"

Without waiting for a response, he snorted and shaking his head, walked away from the guy.