The Mercy Man Day celebrations were just warming up. The sun was at its peak position in the sky, the curtain around the statue in the new museum was falling to reveal chiseled magnificence, and the crowds were cheering at a deafening tone as Mercy Man flew around thanking people, shaking hands, and kissing babies.
Naturally, it was the perfect moment forartificial black clouds to descend, cloaking the city in gloom.
The mayor, Nathan Petrelli, stepped off to the side of the stage as the man initially raised as his brother sped up to take a hero's rightful place in the middle of the stage. He watched as Peter examined the whole area. They both spotted the cat bots rising in the air from amongst and around the crowd at the same time. Two of them in particular suddenly lit up. A video feed was projected onto the separate walls of the new museum that curved and faced the stage.
Nathan groaned to himself. The city had worked hard to put this museum in place. If Sylar destroyed it, they would be out tens of millions of dollars. And while the capture of Sylar was guaranteed, the escape and lack of refund from the state was ensured, too.
"Congratulations on your museum, Mercy Man. Wonderful use of everyone's time."
"Sylar!" Peter didn't have to say anything back. The crowd was already boo'ing on his behalf.
"Oh, what fun."
Nathan rolled his eyes. Peter spoke. "I should've known you'd try to ruin everyone's celebration. What do you want?"
"By the end of the day, I'll do more than crash it! Today is a day you and Mercity will not forget!"
"It's pronounced Mercy City," Peter corrected.
Sylar gestured with his hands in disinterest. "Yes, well; potato, tomato."
That hardly made sense, but it didn't matter. Nathan pursed his lips. "Why drag this out?" Peter asked. "We all know how this ends — with you locked up in your circular cell. Again."
"Wow, so scary. I'm shaking in my custom-made, baby seal leather boots!" The crowd's boos turned into shocked gasps. "You, Mercy Man, will leave Mercity while you still have the chance or this will be the last you see of Claire Petrelli!"
One of the two projected screens changed and the visual of it became of the petite blonde, still in the black and white dress she had done her report in earlier. Nathan clenched one of his fists. His daughter was always being dragged into these games and he was sick of it. For all accounts, however, it was the lesser of two evils. He had to remember that, even with Peter's earlier words in his head.
A gentle hand rested on his back; he knew it was his wife before he looked. "She'll be alright," Heidi murmured reassuringly.
"In order to stop me," Sylar continued over Peter's threats, "you need to find me first!" "We're at the abandoned observatory!" Claire called out.
Sylar's face suddenly deflated into panic as he looked to her. "No!" He turned back, waving his hands at the camera. "No, we're not! Don't listen to her; she's insane!"
"Says the criminal!" Could be heard from Claire behind him. It was droned out by the various degrees of yelling from the crowd and the rumble that went through the ground as Peter cast off.
Nathan sighed.
"Mercy Man approaching, sir."
"Hah!" Claire mocked smugly.
"Ha-hah!" Sylar threw back snidely.
Claire's laugh wavered as a sinking feeling filled her gut.
He came around to her chair, smirking wide and not bothering to continue trying to one-up her with the expressions of joy. One of his hands braced on her arm rest as he leaned against the corner backing of the chair. With him moved out of her direct line of sight, the monitors were fully revealed and she could see that one of them was of the abandoned observatory.
Mercy Man came into view, fist stretched out, and crashed through the domed ceiling. Instinctively, Claire ducked her head to the side. It was all for naught. Sylar chuckled and she jerked away from him. She was still as defiant as ever and he loved it. He leaned forward to speak over her shoulder, against her ear.
"Oh, Claire-bear. After all our talks about understanding one another, did you really think I would call you insane in front of the city without an ulterior motive? Think of how that would reflect on me." He stood abruptly, walking back around to the camera that was set up for him. "Ready the death ray, minion!"
Luke pulled a lever. "Readying."
Claire looked between them, horrified. "Hey! No!"
"You didn't honestly believe I was stupid enough to set up in the only known observatory in the city, did you Mercy Man?" Sylar tsk'ed to the newly occupied screen. Oh, he had the hero good this time. At no other point had one of their plans gotten this far so flawlessly. There was going to be a golden defeating battle this time, he could taste it. "You've fallen right into my trap, old friend."
From Claire Petrelli's vantage point, she could see that one of Sylar's beloved cat bots was inside of the observatory with Mercy Man, projecting a screen of its own. They could look right into the other's eyes. So why wasn't Mercy Man taking this seriously? He only held his arms at his sides, chin up high, and continued to bicker with the villain whom she was trapped in the same room with.
"Hey!" Claire protested again. That caught attention.
"I'm coming to save you, Claire!"
"Oh yeah?" Sylar asked, menacing look taking over his previously smirk-happy face. "That's only if you can withstand the full concentrated force of the sun! Fire, minion!" He pointed to where Luke was still messing with the controls. He was the epitome of a person drunk on power.
Claire's green eyes swiveled over to look at Luke, sagging back against the chair when she saw confirmation of the villain team's next failure. The childish looking progress bar on one of the screens was barely at halfway, shifting between the colors red and yellow. Yeah, that wasn't changing any time soon.
Sylar stomped over after an awkward minute of Mercy Man and the rest of Mercy City staring at him, unimpressed. He and his minion began bickering in stage whispers she did not bother attempting to decode.
"Can I go home now?" She asked with a bored tone.
Luke held a finger up in a waiting gesture but Sylar spun away from him, head in one of his hands. He didn't seem to realize he had paced near her. "I told you to test this and have it ready in advance. I reminded you countless times," he groaned to himself.
"Why do you always blame me?" Luke asked, offended and evidently a bit hurt.
Claire huffed, pulling against the cloth bindings on her wrists. Another little thing they had learned between the first and second go-around. Really helped combat any annoying bruising she might have gotten later. It was also yet another detail that led to her feeling comfortable enoguh to say, "Your plan is failing, okay? Just admit it and let me go. Maybe Mercy Man won't get you right away this time; I don't even know where we are!"
Luke snorted. "Yeah, good luck getting a compromise from him."
Sylar finally reacted. "Whose side are you on?!"
"The losing one," she muttered under her breath.
"Thank you!"
Claire winced at the glare she received from Sylar because of Luke's appreciation of her jab. She reverted back to her brave face, though, no longer feeling any fear regarding the situation. Mercy Man clearly wasn't going to die any time soon and the only threat posed to her was the strain on her back from this terrible position.
She cocked her head at Sylar from where he stood beside her. "So any chance you could stamp that 'frequent kidnapping' card of mine?" It was in her wallet, back with her purse, probably still in the news casting van, but— hey, there was always the possibility that they had gotten that too.
Luke sometimes got a little eager in his kidnappings and had grabbed some of her things before. Only when he had thought they would be needed, of course, and she had always gotten them back.
But still. It was a pattern.
"We cancelled that promotion after the rapids incident, remember?" He taunted. She shrugged. Admittedly, she had forgotten about that, something definitely out of choice. Luke and rushing rivers didn't do so well. She'd honestly, somehow, managed to feel bad about that short-circuiting incident. It wasn't like Luke was a bad person — or, er, robot. More than anything, he seemed incredibly loyal to his insane friend and she couldn't fault him for that.
She was loyal to her insane family, after all.
Claire smiled mockingly. "So, that makes it same time next month, huh?"
Luke was already walking over to the knock out gas tank and mask when a rather loud metallic bang cut through the near-silent air. The banging had been going on for a couple minutes but she had automatically tuned it out, assuming it was another experiment of theirs failing elsewhere in the building. She looked up at the screens.
"Mercy Man!"
"What's he doing?" Sylar asked his minion even as they both rushed to crowd around the monitors. The sounds of empathetic fear amongst the crowd in downtown Mercy City burst loudly from the other monitors. Irritated, he grabbed hold of the volume dial and turned it all the way down to mute.
"Stop it!" Claire shouted from behind them.
He bit down on the retort of 'I'm not doing anything'. The whole city was watching. He wasn't going to leave the impression of being weak, even if the truthful reply would be simply that — the truth.
Mercy Man was being thrown about by a seemingly invisible force inside of the abandoned observatory. He was being thrown back first into walls and head first into the ground, over and over again. If Sylar was not intimately aware of just how invincible the hero on the screen was, he would be cringing right now.
Instead, he was peering at the screen curiously. Luke left his side with a mutter. "You finally win!" Mercy Man managed to gasp out.
Sylar's brows scrunched up in confusion to the point of looking like a unibrow. He caught the reflection in the metal on the wall across from him. It made him straighten and adopt a mostly serious expression. "Yes! But for audience clarification—" He gestured to the screens that displayed Central Square and the crowd there. "—which win are you talking about?"
"Um, Sylar?" Luke asked with a timid voice. He barely heard him, eager for the hero's reply.
"My weakness! You've... found it. The copper... in the walls... pipes... it drains... my powers!"
Sylar couldn't help it. He shuffled on his feet, narrowing his eyes. "Copper?! You're joking!"
A bright red light flashed throughout the room once and then Luke was jumping away from the other area of the console. Sylar swiveled his head in confusion before his eyes widened like saucers. The death ray countdown!
"No!" Claire protested.
Through the portion of the makeshift dome of theirs that was opened in order to see the real abandoned observatory across the river, miles away, they all watched as the blindingly bright beam shot down. It seemed to still for a moment before the building burst apart. The video feed was immediately severed, screen going solid blue. But that wasn't noticed for quite a while.
Accompanying the explosion was an obvious shock wave. Sylar and Luke, however, hadn't anticipated how powerful it would be. Even this many miles away, Luke's robotic form easily had its feet lose stability on the ground and he fell on his side. Sylar managed better, turning and shielding himself. His cape flew up over his face annoyingly.
Claire reacted in a dozen different ways simultaneously. She squeaked, as if she wanted to shout again but was stunned speechless. The blast made her turn her head, as did the light. Even then, she leaned forward in the chair. Searching for a way to metaphorically run across the way, into the flames, and rescue the city's hero.
Sylar pushed his cape back into its place at his back as he lowered his eyes from her heartbroken expression. He turned around. Luke was picking himself back up. The minion was the only one smiling. "I'm not as smart as you, sir, but I don't think he could survive that."
"Well." Sylar swallowed. "Let's not get our hopes up yet, minion," he said half-heartedly. A tense minute passed.
"Mercy Man!" Claire half-rejoiced, half-sighed before either of the two in front of her had a chance to alert the other. Out of the billowing smoke around the explosion of concrete and metal came the trademark white cape of the city's hero.
"Of course," Sylar commented almost softly. Mercy Man was going to rise from the destruction again, as he always did. Sylar's plans would amount to nothing. He would be sent back to prison with a decently matched fight to show for it. And so would the cycle begin again.
This time there was the difference of the hero — and thus the police department and city — discovering his evil lair, raiding it, and leaving Luke back at the drawing board. Which would leave Sylar in prison longer than usual, too.
His expression turned grim. "Mercy Man!" Luke was already bolting for the door.
"You're just great!" Sylar called to him sarcastically while side-stepping around the control console in a sort of defense.
The caped figure landed on the ground in a heap of ashen dust. And then proceeded to stay there.
It was all wrong. He was flatter than Mercy Man, too short for another. And he wasn't getting up. Sylar approached slowly. "Don't!" Luke warned. He continued stepping forward. One look to Claire, who was left helplessly sitting in front of the caped figure, told him all he needed to know. He took hold of the cape and pulled it off anyway.
A charred skeleton was all that survived of Mercy Man. Sylar took in a deep breath, unsure of how to feel about this. Only one thing was clear — shock.
"You did it," Luke marveled. Then he found his enthusiasm, throwing his arms up in the air. "You did it!"
Sylar's eyes lifted from the skeleton, only to be immediately met with Claire Petrelli's. Tear streaks ran down her cheeks, voice hoarse. He dreaded the words before she said them. "You... You killed him."
A/N: Aaand here we reach the point of canon divergence! The next chapter will veer much more in the direction of Sylaire and some angst, of course. Can't live without the angst!
Unfortunately that chapter won't be posted for a few days, week at most. Needs another wee edit~
So, thoughts? :)