fic: Nothing Is Taking Me Down, Part 1/? (Heroes)
Title: Nothing Is Taking Me Down, Part 1/?
Author: acinogan
Characters: Sylar, Elle, Luke, more later
Word Count: 1239 this bit
Rating: PG-13 (fer cussin) this part, almost certainly at least R later
Summary: Elle makes a guest appearance on Sylar's latest road trip to collect on a debt. Going more and more AU by the moment.
Spoilers/Warnings: Up through "Building 26" this part
Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes characters etc.
A/N: nudged by the prompt from superkappa regarding Damien Rice songs. i actually gleaned this from "I Remember," though.
Prologue
Sylar pulled into the convenience store parking lot. Luke was fully awake and tried to engage him in conversation nearly constantly. They both needed this break.
"Want anything?" Luke asked him.
"I'm fine." Except for his impending descent into insanity, but they didn't sell a fix for that there.
"Oh, do you have any cash?"
Sylar sighed and gave the teenager a twenty. He shook his head while Luke got out of the car and walked through the front door of the Gas 'N' Go. What had he gotten himself into? He should have left the kid there in the SWAT van. One moment of weakness, and now he had a sidekick. That never ended well.
"You're not kidding." While it wasn't as surprising as the first time, it was still a little jarring to hear Elle's voice in his ear without warning. "About this new kid," she continued as he shifted in his seat to face her where she'd appeared in the passenger seat, "he's not really working for me." She lowered her voice and said confidentially, "He talks a lot. You know, since you're back to bad-ass evil road-tripping, maybe you could just--" She tilted her head to the side and drew a line across Luke's imaginary forehead with her finger. "Then we could be alone again, really alone."
"I'm not going to kill him for no reason."
"Yeah, 'cause you never do that. And anyway - that power! That's almost as good as mine was. How many reasons do you need?"
Sylar was getting a little tired of his own psyche giving him such a hard time.
"Are you going to tell me what you want, or are you just going to get your vengeance through annoyance?" Maybe if he played along, the part of his mind that regretted what he did to Elle would settle back down and let him get some peace. Well, as much peace as he could get with Luke around. Maybe he should just--
"Made you think about it!" She pointed at him and giggled. "But honestly, I don't really care what you do with him as long as you fix something for me."
She was finally getting to it.
"What is it, Elle, that I can do for you?" He could not keep the false conciliatory tone out of his voice.
"Well, with that attitude, maybe I won't tell you yet. I'll let you ride around aimlessly with your boy-toy until you can learn some manners. Do you really think he knows anything about your father? Your real father. Just to review, you killed me before you even questioned me about that whole 'you're a Petrelli' thing. He lived next door to some birdwatcher. I saw your files. Dipshit."
He mentally acknowledged the flaw in his reasoning during those few moments on the beach.
"You know what? You're right, okay? You're right. It was an impulse, and I probably shouldn't have followed through on it."
"Probably? Now your best lead is Chatty Cathy. And if you think I'm telling you anything before I get what I want, you are more fucked in the head than we thought. And good luck staying one step ahead of the government."
"What the hell do you want?" he practically roared at her. "You're too busy laying a guilt trip on me to tell me what you want me to do!"
A small smile turned up her lips at the rise she'd been able to get out of him.
"I want you to remember, Gabriel. I want you to regret, out of all the regrettable things you've done, that one the absolute most. And I have an errand you have to run. Oooh, Slush-O!" she practically squealed as she looked to the door of the convenience store. He saw Luke carrying a cup and a plastic bag, and when he turned his attention back to Elle, she wasn't there.
"Bitch," he muttered under his breath just before Luke opened the car door and got back in.
"That's no way to talk to a lady," Sylar heard faintly by his left ear. He checked to see if Luke seemed like he'd heard anything, but he was obliviously busy arranging his Slush-O in the cupholder and his junk food lunch on his lap. Great, she had a new and strictly verbal method to cause him anguish.
"The line in there took forever," Luke complained. "I almost jell-o-fied the guts of the cashier just so I wouldn't have to wait on his slow ass."
"No powers," Sylar reminded him. The second Luke became a liability, Sylar was getting rid of him. To hopefully keep the kid from talking, Sylar turned on the car radio.
"You're a / psycho killer / qu'est-ce que c'est..." Unbelievable. He exhaled loudly while Luke snickered, and when he reached for the knob to change the station, he felt a small shock.
***
They stopped for the night at a small hotel a couple of hours north from where Luke said they needed to go to look for Samson Gray. His power let him know Luke was even telling the truth. After Sylar heard Luke's regular breathing from the other single bed, he stood up and quietly left the room. Outside, under the clear dark sky, he stood in the parking lot and waited for her to come to him, but there was no taunt over his shoulder, no voice purring in his ear.
He busied himself for a minute reciting the names of all the constellations he could see. She still didn't appear. In his head, he listed all the information he knew about Samson Gray, his biological father. That didn't take long, and when he was done, she still wasn't there. Now that he wanted her to show herself, she wouldn't.
"Elle?" he called to her quietly. "Where are you?" Maybe if she thought he needed her, she would show up.
Nothing. Maybe if he apologized?
"I'm sorry, Elle, okay?"
"Sorry about what?" she challenged him, her familiar form appearing leaned against a security light at the edge of the parking lot.
"Calling you a bitch?" he ventured.
"Well, it's a start, at least. Are you ready to talk?"
"If it will help get you out of my brain, yes."
"Well, now you know how it feels." She paused and considered him as he walked over to her. "This thing I need you to do; you're not going to want to do it. And it might just get you captured. But it's either this or I'm going to keep dogging you until you somehow figure out a way to off yourself for keeps this time. Which will be even harder now that you're basically indestructible. Oh, don't think I didn't notice how well you handled yourself in that roomful of commandos. God, I hope Glasses was watching that."
"Bennet's a part of this?"
"The man freaking reinvents himself more than you do." Elle rolled her eyes. "Like he's not going to do whatever it takes to keep his precious daughter safe." Sylar thought he might detect a small note of envy in her voice. He filed that away for later; now he needed her to get to the point.
"Will you please go ahead and tell me what this thing is that you want me to do?"
"I want you to go help Peter."
to be continued...
Author: acinogan
Characters: Sylar, Elle, Luke, more later
Word Count: 1239 this bit
Rating: PG-13 (fer cussin) this part, almost certainly at least R later
Summary: Elle makes a guest appearance on Sylar's latest road trip to collect on a debt. Going more and more AU by the moment.
Spoilers/Warnings: Up through "Building 26" this part
Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes characters etc.
A/N: nudged by the prompt from superkappa regarding Damien Rice songs. i actually gleaned this from "I Remember," though.
Prologue
Sylar pulled into the convenience store parking lot. Luke was fully awake and tried to engage him in conversation nearly constantly. They both needed this break.
"Want anything?" Luke asked him.
"I'm fine." Except for his impending descent into insanity, but they didn't sell a fix for that there.
"Oh, do you have any cash?"
Sylar sighed and gave the teenager a twenty. He shook his head while Luke got out of the car and walked through the front door of the Gas 'N' Go. What had he gotten himself into? He should have left the kid there in the SWAT van. One moment of weakness, and now he had a sidekick. That never ended well.
"You're not kidding." While it wasn't as surprising as the first time, it was still a little jarring to hear Elle's voice in his ear without warning. "About this new kid," she continued as he shifted in his seat to face her where she'd appeared in the passenger seat, "he's not really working for me." She lowered her voice and said confidentially, "He talks a lot. You know, since you're back to bad-ass evil road-tripping, maybe you could just--" She tilted her head to the side and drew a line across Luke's imaginary forehead with her finger. "Then we could be alone again, really alone."
"I'm not going to kill him for no reason."
"Yeah, 'cause you never do that. And anyway - that power! That's almost as good as mine was. How many reasons do you need?"
Sylar was getting a little tired of his own psyche giving him such a hard time.
"Are you going to tell me what you want, or are you just going to get your vengeance through annoyance?" Maybe if he played along, the part of his mind that regretted what he did to Elle would settle back down and let him get some peace. Well, as much peace as he could get with Luke around. Maybe he should just--
"Made you think about it!" She pointed at him and giggled. "But honestly, I don't really care what you do with him as long as you fix something for me."
She was finally getting to it.
"What is it, Elle, that I can do for you?" He could not keep the false conciliatory tone out of his voice.
"Well, with that attitude, maybe I won't tell you yet. I'll let you ride around aimlessly with your boy-toy until you can learn some manners. Do you really think he knows anything about your father? Your real father. Just to review, you killed me before you even questioned me about that whole 'you're a Petrelli' thing. He lived next door to some birdwatcher. I saw your files. Dipshit."
He mentally acknowledged the flaw in his reasoning during those few moments on the beach.
"You know what? You're right, okay? You're right. It was an impulse, and I probably shouldn't have followed through on it."
"Probably? Now your best lead is Chatty Cathy. And if you think I'm telling you anything before I get what I want, you are more fucked in the head than we thought. And good luck staying one step ahead of the government."
"What the hell do you want?" he practically roared at her. "You're too busy laying a guilt trip on me to tell me what you want me to do!"
A small smile turned up her lips at the rise she'd been able to get out of him.
"I want you to remember, Gabriel. I want you to regret, out of all the regrettable things you've done, that one the absolute most. And I have an errand you have to run. Oooh, Slush-O!" she practically squealed as she looked to the door of the convenience store. He saw Luke carrying a cup and a plastic bag, and when he turned his attention back to Elle, she wasn't there.
"Bitch," he muttered under his breath just before Luke opened the car door and got back in.
"That's no way to talk to a lady," Sylar heard faintly by his left ear. He checked to see if Luke seemed like he'd heard anything, but he was obliviously busy arranging his Slush-O in the cupholder and his junk food lunch on his lap. Great, she had a new and strictly verbal method to cause him anguish.
"The line in there took forever," Luke complained. "I almost jell-o-fied the guts of the cashier just so I wouldn't have to wait on his slow ass."
"No powers," Sylar reminded him. The second Luke became a liability, Sylar was getting rid of him. To hopefully keep the kid from talking, Sylar turned on the car radio.
"You're a / psycho killer / qu'est-ce que c'est..." Unbelievable. He exhaled loudly while Luke snickered, and when he reached for the knob to change the station, he felt a small shock.
***
They stopped for the night at a small hotel a couple of hours north from where Luke said they needed to go to look for Samson Gray. His power let him know Luke was even telling the truth. After Sylar heard Luke's regular breathing from the other single bed, he stood up and quietly left the room. Outside, under the clear dark sky, he stood in the parking lot and waited for her to come to him, but there was no taunt over his shoulder, no voice purring in his ear.
He busied himself for a minute reciting the names of all the constellations he could see. She still didn't appear. In his head, he listed all the information he knew about Samson Gray, his biological father. That didn't take long, and when he was done, she still wasn't there. Now that he wanted her to show herself, she wouldn't.
"Elle?" he called to her quietly. "Where are you?" Maybe if she thought he needed her, she would show up.
Nothing. Maybe if he apologized?
"I'm sorry, Elle, okay?"
"Sorry about what?" she challenged him, her familiar form appearing leaned against a security light at the edge of the parking lot.
"Calling you a bitch?" he ventured.
"Well, it's a start, at least. Are you ready to talk?"
"If it will help get you out of my brain, yes."
"Well, now you know how it feels." She paused and considered him as he walked over to her. "This thing I need you to do; you're not going to want to do it. And it might just get you captured. But it's either this or I'm going to keep dogging you until you somehow figure out a way to off yourself for keeps this time. Which will be even harder now that you're basically indestructible. Oh, don't think I didn't notice how well you handled yourself in that roomful of commandos. God, I hope Glasses was watching that."
"Bennet's a part of this?"
"The man freaking reinvents himself more than you do." Elle rolled her eyes. "Like he's not going to do whatever it takes to keep his precious daughter safe." Sylar thought he might detect a small note of envy in her voice. He filed that away for later; now he needed her to get to the point.
"Will you please go ahead and tell me what this thing is that you want me to do?"
"I want you to go help Peter."
to be continued...