Special (14/20) Part 2
Title: Special (14/20)
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various Pairings.
Gene cursed as he weaved through the traffic of people in order to make his way across the street and over to the church he had seen Babe enter. He had tried to call out to the young man on the street but Babe must not have heard him.
As he entered the church and looked around he didn’t see the other man anywhere. It was probably for the best he figured. What was he going to say to him anyway?
‘Oh I’m not a stalker or anything but I was hanging around outside your apartment building when I saw you leave and thought you might want to grab a cup of coffee even though I’m supposed to be on a mission to save my dead friend’s kidnapped son?’
It wasn’t going to sound any better out loud than it did in his head.
He was about to turn and leave when he heard a door slam above his head. He turned and saw a staircase entrance to his right. It was possible that Babe had gone up there.
Under normal circumstances, Gene never would have gone after someone at this point. But his life hadn’t been normal since Renee had died and this might be his last chance to see the
young man again. So he found himself climbing the staircase in search of the noise.
None of the doors he passed looked heavy enough to have caused such a bang. That is until he reached the last door which seemingly led to the roof.
Not seeing what difference it would make if he checked it out, Gene pushed the door open and scanned the roof.
He hadn’t expected Babe to actually be up there and yet there he was. Only the circumstances of his presence caused panic to rise up in Eugene’s chest.
The young man was standing along the ledge of the building, arms spread and one foot off the side as if preparing to jump.
“No!” He shouted before taking off in a run, pushing his body with all of his strength so that he might reach Babe in time.
The red head was already beginning to fall forward when Gene reached him and desperately flung an arm around his midsection and jerked the other man back and away from a long drop. Babe let out a surprised gasp as the two of the tumbled backwards and hit the concrete roof floor hard.
Babe landed on top of him and Gene felt his own head crack against the concrete painfully. He could feel blood and the subsequent healing of his injury. He looked up at the young man on top of him to see that Babe seemed to be shocked to find himself on top of Gene instead of in a heap on the street below.
Gene sat up quickly and grabbed the young man’s arms to give him a slight shake. “What the Hell are you doing!? Trying to kill yourself?”
Babe just looked at him with wide eyes. “What? NO! I was…what are you doing here? You weren’t part of my dream.”
Gene was incredibly confused, “What dream? You were going to kill yourself over some dream?”
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself! What are you even doing here? Were you following me?” Babe asked.
“You better be glad I was or else someone would be scraping you off of that damn side walk.” Gene snapped, not bothering to deny that he had indeed been following the other man.
Babe pushed himself off of the ground and stood up to glare at Gene. “What? Do you have some sort of hero complex? I was fine. I was supposed to be meeting someone who could help me but I couldn’t because you were following me!”
Gene shook his head, “You need help alright.” He grabbed the young man’s arm and began to drag him towards the staircase.
“Where the Hell are you taking me?” Babe asked as he allowed the other man to pull him away from the edge of the roof.
“I’m taking you back home-again. But not before I sit you down and you explain to me why you were about to jump off the top of a building.”
“I appreciate that you think you’re helping me. I guess that’s your thing- but I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Babe said with a frown. At any other time he probably would have been thrilled to see the attractive doctor again, but now all he felt was confused over how this had differed from his dream and worried that he might not get to see Toye.
“You do if you don’t want me to take you to a hospital and put you on a suicide watch.” The doctor told him as they began to descend the staircase.
Damn it. The last thing Babe needed was for Bill to think he had tried to kill himself. “Fine.” He consented, “But you’re just going to think I’m crazy.”
Gene thought about the events that had transpired in the past few days. “I highly doubt it.” He responded.
Dick Winters and Lewis Nixon, Somewhere in California
Dick heard a groan and turned to look at the man waking up in the passenger seat of the vehicle Sink had provided him with. The pale and sickly looking man had his head practically glued to the window and Dick figured that coming out of a drug induced state of unconsciousness must have been relatively unpleasant.
“Nice to see you awake. How do you feel?” Dick asked as softly as he could, although he was pretty certain that he already knew the answer to such a question.
“What?” The man, Lewis Nixon, began to sit up, still groggy and disoriented. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
“You’re in a car on your way out of California. Any further explanation will probably require you to be slightly more aware.” Dick answered him.
The other man sat up quickly and looked around. “What? No! I’m supposed to be locked up. I’m not safe to be around!”
Dick took his eyes off of the road momentarily to give what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. You can’t hurt anyone as long as you’re with me.”
The man shook his head. “No you don’t understand. I-”
But Dick just cut him off. “I do understand. Better than you do actually.”
Nixon stared at him, “Who are you?”
“That’s the part that’s difficult to explain.” Dick answered. “All that I can really tell you right now is that I want to help you.”
“Is that so? I don’t even know who the Hell you are.” Nixon snapped. Although if he were being honest with himself, he felt more relaxed and safe with the man in the driver’s seat than he had in a long time. Yet after all that had happened, he was wary of trusting anybody- much less mysterious men that showed up and somehow managed to make multiple murder charges disappear.
“My name is Dick Winters”. The red head told him. “And I came to get you out of there on behalf of a Company who wants to study and utilize your miraculous strength.”
Lewis looked at him in shock, “How does anyone know about that? I hardly know shit about that!”
Winters shrugged, “There are many people out there that have extraordinary gifts. Like you and yet different. But this Company didn’t want to help you. Not really. They wanted to use you.”
“Gifts? Like what?” Lewis asked. He supposed it was possible. The cop that Ron had taken such an interest in had read both of their minds. His own ability to rip men in half like rag dolls, however, wasn’t something he would necessarily call a gift.
“Healing, teleportation, mind reading, time travel.” Winters answered. “If you can dream it up then there’s probably someone out there that can do it.”
“ Time travel?” Lewis asked in disbelief.
Dick nodded. “Trust me- it’s hard to believe even when you see it with your own two eyes.”
“What about you?” Lewis asked his mysterious savior, although the accuracy of such a title remained to be determined, as he tried to get a clear look at the passing scenery. “Do you have a ‘gift’ too?”
The driver stiffened for a moment, before nodding reluctantly. “Yes…but it’s difficult to explain.”
“When isn’t it?” Lewis wondered. “Still…seeing as how I’m at your mercy I think I deserve to know. If you are trying to help I don’t see what the problem is. It’ll be like a show of good faith.”
Dick supposed he could understand that. He shrugged. “Okay..it’s just that. People…who have abilities. Well…whenever they’re around me- they don’t have abilities anymore. Or my presence suppresses them. I can also manipulate and erase a person’s memories.”
Lewis looked surprised. “Is that…is that why I can’t hear his voice anymore?”
Dick looked over quickly, “You mean your violent alter ego? I believe so. It’s most likely a psychological effect of not being able to properly control such a powerful ability. Your mind must have begun to create an extra persona to manage it when you didn’t realize that you were manifesting.”
“Jesus...you do know more than I do.” Lewis stated in amazement. “Well if this Company is such a piece of shit then what makes you think I’m letting you take me to them?”
“That’s not where I’m taking you.” Winters told him. “Do you know who Roberts Sink is?”
“The hotel owner?” Lewis said. “Yeah I know who he is. Who doesn’t? Besides he’s an old friend of my father’s.”
That made Dick laugh ever so slightly. “What’s so funny?” Nixon asked.
“It’s just…I recently found out he was a good friend of my father’s too.” Dick explained. “He funds a place up in Washington where he sends people like yourself to keep them safe from the Company I work for. There’s a woman there who should be able to help you control your ability.”
“Right. So why do you work for these people if you’re such a selfless do-gooder?” Nixon asked. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do than get to know Dick Winters. Besides…he was mysterious and incredibly gorgeous.
Just like Ron had been…and look where that had gotten him.
“I have my reasons.” Dick answered before realizing that the answer probably wouldn’t be suitable for the other man. “I have to…in order to keep someone close to me safe.”
“Wife?” Nixon asked, although he hadn’t seen a ring on the man’s hand. Not to mention that he didn’t exactly have the best angle for such a search.
Winters gave a half smile and shook his head. “No…I’m not married.”
“So you’re single?”
Dick paused at the question. Had they been flirting? He honestly couldn’t tell these days. Whether they had been or not, he already knew the answer to that question. It may not have been true in the traditional sense but…
“No. No I’m taken.” He said seriously, more to the windshield than to the man beside him.
Lewis, for his part, felt kind of sad at the answer. Although he wasn’t sure why. He shrugged. “That’s probably for the best. I’ve sworn off men anyway.”
“Is that so? What makes you think I would have gone for you anyhow?” Dick questioned with a smile.
“Oh trust me,” Nixon said, “you’d have been powerless to resist. I can be very persistent.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep…I would have swept you off your feet eventually.”
Dick laughed. “Are we flirting?”
Nixon smiled for the first time in a while now as he looked over at the other man. “I believe so.”
“Interesting. Why have you sworn off men?” Dick figured he was allowed to ask questions too.
“Bad, bad relationship. That ended very finally and very recently.”
“How bad exactly?”
Lewis made a face. “Well he cheated on me with my best friend. Multiple times. Then I almost killed him when I went all schizo.”
“Goodness that is bad.” Dick felt sorry for the other man. Cheating was…well he imagined it must be a difficult thing to deal with.
“Did you just say ‘goodness’?” Lewis asked with a smirk.
Dick looked at him in confusion. “Yes. Why?”
“That’s just pretty adorable.”
“I’m taken remember.” Dick joked.
Nixon nodded. “Right and I’m off men.”
“Do you really think women will be much better?”
“I won’t know until I meet one. So what’s this significant other of yours like?” Lewis asked his new companion.
He watched as Winter’s remarkable eyes (and damn him for even noticing) began to take on a faraway look. No chemistry he managed to have with this man would matter it seemed. Because just looking at him now…Lewis could tell he was in love with whomever he was thinking about. And he couldn’t help but feel jealous. Because he had thought he was in love with Ron…but it had all been a lie. There had been no love in that relationship.
“It’s…complicated.” Winters answered him finally.
Lewis smirked, “It seems to be with you.”
Winters laughed and Nixon couldn’t help but be pleased at the easy way they were conversing.
It was possible to just be friends with someone right? No matter how attractive they might be. Lewis needed friends more than lovers at this point in his life.
Still…he wondered if anyone would ever really love him.
Company HQ, Manhattan, NY
“So what are you guys going to do? Are you going to save him?” Eli wondered as he kicked his legs up and down from his spot on the bed.
“Eli I need you to not talk for like- 5 minutes. If that’s possible.” Joe instructed him as he began to dial Webster’s number. He ignored the child sticking his tongue out at him as the phone rang.
Finally David answered. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Calm down I’m fine.” Joe sighed. “But we’re going to have to move that rescue up to like- in the next two hours. It turns out they’re secretly killing people over here and Skip’s boyfriend is apparently next.”
“That all seems very..the Giver like.”
Joe made a face at the phone. “It is nothing like in the Giver.”
“Yes it is. Did you even read that book?”
“Yeah I read that book you jerk.” Joe huffed. “In case you forget you and I went to the same college Harvard boy.”
“Oh God please don’t start that again.”
“Well don’t be such a jerk.”
“Why do you keep calling me a jerk? You’re like the most foul mouthed person I know.”
“Because I have an 8 year old audience.” Joe answered.
“Aww you’re censoring yourself? How nice of you.” Webster teased.
“Shut up.” Joe snapped. “Look they’re keeping him on the second to last floor. But it’s probably going to be heavily guarded. I’ll try to get down there-”
“No.” Webster cut him off. “We already talked about this. It’s too dangerous for you to get involved. I’ll handle it. Just make sure you’re far away from there for the next hour.”
“The next hour?” Joe asked, “Don’t you want to plan it at all?”
“Just steer clear okay? I have to go. Good-”
“Wait. Just be-”
“bye.” Webster finished before hanging up.
“careful.” Joe said with a frown and hung up as well.
He had a bad feeling about this.
Philadelphia, PA
Bill frowned as he checked the time on his phone aboard the plane. They were maybe 10 minutes from landing and it would probably be 15 minutes before he could call Babe and tell him that he was back in town. Though Dick had left him a message letting him know their brother was safe, it was something he would always fret over.
He would have called him earlier, but he had been running so late thanks to his meeting with Dike that he hadn’t had the time.
Leaning back into his seat, he watched the ground get gradually closer. Unlike some of the people he knew, he couldn’t teleport himself off the plane anytime soon…he would just have to wait.
“Would you HURRY UP!” Luz shouted towards the bathroom where Christenson had been taking a shower for what seemed like an eternity. It most likely hadn’t been that long but George couldn’t help it if he was eager to question his son’s suspected kidnapper.
His mind was plagued with worry for Eli. Whether he was safe, whether he was cold. What if he was hungry or scared or hurt? It was all he could think about.
“FIVE MINUTES!” Burton shouted back.
Luz stomped over to the slightly cracked open bathroom door where steam was slowly creeping out. He pushed it open a bit more and fixed the shower with a stare, making the water run cold.
He heard the FBI agent shriek and let himself smirk in his victory. But then Christenson jerked the shower curtain back partly and stuck his torso out.
“LUZ what the HELL?” He shouted, his eyes were closed due to shampoo that was running off of his soapy hair and into his face and he must not have known that Luz was right in front of him.
George just stared dumbly at the other man’s well defined and naked upper body before stuttering out an apology and using his ability to return the water to warm. He spun on his heel and ran back into the motel room.
Holy crap- had he just been thinking about sex? When his son was missing? He was so going to burn for that. Suddenly he had something other than Eli on his mind. Oh God…why had he thought it would be a smart idea to go in there?
His guilt trip over the direction his thoughts had taken preoccupied him until Christenson emerged from the bathroom with a towel slung around his waist, glaring at Luz. “That wasn’t funny.”
Luz just stared at the half naked man for a moment. “I…will be waiting by the car.”
Burton watched in confusion as the other man practically fled the hotel room. “What the Hell was that?” he wondered to himself.
As he began to pull out something that thankfully wasn’t a suit, his mind caught up with the situation. “Oh…”
He allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk. “Ha…he so wants me.”
Now if they could just find some answers pertaining to Eli’s whereabouts without having to shoot anyone then it might actually turn out to be a good day.
Luz wasn’t exactly what one would call shy. Nor was he a saint. There had been other lovers in his life since Renee had disappeared. Both men and women…but he still couldn’t help being a little uncomfortable sitting next to Christenson as they drove back to Guarnere’s apartment.
“I can’t reach Gene on my cell.” He said quietly.
Christenson sighed. “Would you please stop that?”
“Stop what?” Luz asked, clearly confused.
“Being all awkward.” Burton answered. “So you saw me without a shirt. Big deal. I’m not that hot.”
Luz didn’t feel as horrified at being called out as he had expected to be. After all, he supposed, he and Christenson were on fairly similar wave lengths. “You kind of are actually.” George answered.
Burton grinned. “It’s not like we did anything to be embarrassed over.”
“We certainly did in my imagination.”
Christenson laughed as they parked their rental car across the street from Bill Guarnere’s apartment building. “I knew I liked you.”
Luz laughed as well as he watched Burton take his weapon out of the holster attached to his jeans and check the clip inside. “I know you have another one of those somewhere.” He commentated as casually as he could.
Burton gave him a pointed stare. “You’re high as shit if you think I’m giving you a gun.” He told him.
Well apparently Luz hadn’t been as subtle as he’d hoped. Christenson got out of the car and motioned for him to follow.
Once they got across the street, the agent frowned. “Great- you need a code to get in. So much for me casing the place.”
Luz rolled his eyes and moved in front of Burton. “You’re forgetting who you’re with.” He said as he put a hand next to the security system. A moment later there was a buzz and the green light next to the building’s front doors lit up, indicating that it was unlocked. Luz motioned to it. “After you.”
Burton grinned. “That’s really freaking cool.”
“This is the third time I’ve tried to get a hold of you. Why aren’t you answering your phone? If you aren’t home when I get there, I’m going to come looking for you.” Bill spoke to his brother’s voicemail.
This was getting ridiculous. He needed to get home as soon as possible. Hopefully the kid had just neglected to plug his cell phone into the charger. With Babe, it was a problem that wasn’t all that unheard of.
He took off to the airport parking garage with a sigh.
“Unfortunately,” Luz noted, “My ability doesn’t seem to think of a manual door lock as a machine.”
They were standing outside of Guarnere’s apartment door. After a series of knocking it had been concluded that the place was empty. Burton made a face at Luz. “Please- this is
something I don’t need you for.” He joked as he pulled out a credit card from his wallet. “What have you never broken into anywhere?”
Luz eyed the credit card doubtfully. “It’s been awhile.”
After s few jiggles and pushes, Burton was opening the door. “Alright wait here. I’m going to make sure,” he began before Luz simply walked past him and into the apartment, “that no one is here. Okay never mind then.”
George looked the place over and turned to face Christenson. “So now what?”
Burton closed the door and locked it back. “Now we wait for him to come home. I suppose you could try calling Gene again.”
“Sure.”
As Bill headed down the hallway towards his apartment, he could feel his exhaustion begin to set in. All he wanted was to go to sleep. Hopefully he would get inside and Babe would be sitting on the couch being a typical 16 year old slob who hadn’t realized his phone was dead.
That way Bill could collapse on his bed and get some rest.
However when Bill unlocked his door and took a few steps in, not only was Babe not sitting on the couch, but he could tell that something was off.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. His hand reached for his gun, which he had kept in his car for when he returned, but before he could grab it he heard the ever familiar sound of a gun clicking off of safety and felt cold metal on his neck.
“Don’t move.” A voice instructed him. Bill knew better than to do that anyway. Shit. Where was Babe?
“Luz.” The same voice called out to the man who Bill had seen move off at the other side of the room.
Bill tensed when he saw the short, brown haired man. He had been one of the ones who had captured George Luz. He knew what the man was capable of. He waited as the man behind him, who was holding the gun and whose identity was still a mystery, instructed Luz to take Guarnere’s weapon and put it on the coffee table.
Well at least he knew that Luz wasn’t here about Babe. Shit…Babe. Now he would hear Bill’s message and rush home.
He wasn’t sure how this was going to go down. Without a doubt this man was searching for his son. Bill knew that if it were Babe missing, he would do whatever it took to find him.
This wasn’t going to end well.
Ronald Speirs, Carwood Lipton and Buck Compton, Los Angeles, CA
Buck just stared at his two companions, finding the secretive smiles on their faces somewhat suspicious. Well to be honest, he was mostly disturbed by the fact that Ron looked like he actually might have been laughing. The other agent was the most serious man that Buck knew.
“What the Hell are you two so excited about?” He asked them.
Ron smiled as Lipton quickly covered up a laugh. “Nothing. We just went down and had a word with the lab tech is all.”
Buck frowned, knowing that the news was probably not good. These things couldn’t be rushed, especially not without proper communication between both parties. “How’d that go?” he wondered.
Ron held up a file, “We got a DNA match off some old hospital records.”
“You’re kidding.” Buck said in disbelief.
Lipton shook his head. “Nope. Better than that we have a name. Roy Cobb. Lives in an apartment in Queens.”
Buck sighed. “New York. Again. How the Hell is he getting out here so quickly?”
Lipton and Ron shared a look, both remembering what they had seen the previous night.
Finally Ron looked over at Lipton with smirk. “You ever been to New York?”
A/N: Well apparently all the things covered in Company Man are going to have to span two chapters in this story because the length of this chapter was getting a bit out of hand and I just have so many gosh darn characters to take care of! I didn’t want to rush the action scenes I have planned so they’ll have to be in the next one. I’m rather excited about it.
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various Pairings.
Gene cursed as he weaved through the traffic of people in order to make his way across the street and over to the church he had seen Babe enter. He had tried to call out to the young man on the street but Babe must not have heard him.
As he entered the church and looked around he didn’t see the other man anywhere. It was probably for the best he figured. What was he going to say to him anyway?
‘Oh I’m not a stalker or anything but I was hanging around outside your apartment building when I saw you leave and thought you might want to grab a cup of coffee even though I’m supposed to be on a mission to save my dead friend’s kidnapped son?’
It wasn’t going to sound any better out loud than it did in his head.
He was about to turn and leave when he heard a door slam above his head. He turned and saw a staircase entrance to his right. It was possible that Babe had gone up there.
Under normal circumstances, Gene never would have gone after someone at this point. But his life hadn’t been normal since Renee had died and this might be his last chance to see the
young man again. So he found himself climbing the staircase in search of the noise.
None of the doors he passed looked heavy enough to have caused such a bang. That is until he reached the last door which seemingly led to the roof.
Not seeing what difference it would make if he checked it out, Gene pushed the door open and scanned the roof.
He hadn’t expected Babe to actually be up there and yet there he was. Only the circumstances of his presence caused panic to rise up in Eugene’s chest.
The young man was standing along the ledge of the building, arms spread and one foot off the side as if preparing to jump.
“No!” He shouted before taking off in a run, pushing his body with all of his strength so that he might reach Babe in time.
The red head was already beginning to fall forward when Gene reached him and desperately flung an arm around his midsection and jerked the other man back and away from a long drop. Babe let out a surprised gasp as the two of the tumbled backwards and hit the concrete roof floor hard.
Babe landed on top of him and Gene felt his own head crack against the concrete painfully. He could feel blood and the subsequent healing of his injury. He looked up at the young man on top of him to see that Babe seemed to be shocked to find himself on top of Gene instead of in a heap on the street below.
Gene sat up quickly and grabbed the young man’s arms to give him a slight shake. “What the Hell are you doing!? Trying to kill yourself?”
Babe just looked at him with wide eyes. “What? NO! I was…what are you doing here? You weren’t part of my dream.”
Gene was incredibly confused, “What dream? You were going to kill yourself over some dream?”
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself! What are you even doing here? Were you following me?” Babe asked.
“You better be glad I was or else someone would be scraping you off of that damn side walk.” Gene snapped, not bothering to deny that he had indeed been following the other man.
Babe pushed himself off of the ground and stood up to glare at Gene. “What? Do you have some sort of hero complex? I was fine. I was supposed to be meeting someone who could help me but I couldn’t because you were following me!”
Gene shook his head, “You need help alright.” He grabbed the young man’s arm and began to drag him towards the staircase.
“Where the Hell are you taking me?” Babe asked as he allowed the other man to pull him away from the edge of the roof.
“I’m taking you back home-again. But not before I sit you down and you explain to me why you were about to jump off the top of a building.”
“I appreciate that you think you’re helping me. I guess that’s your thing- but I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Babe said with a frown. At any other time he probably would have been thrilled to see the attractive doctor again, but now all he felt was confused over how this had differed from his dream and worried that he might not get to see Toye.
“You do if you don’t want me to take you to a hospital and put you on a suicide watch.” The doctor told him as they began to descend the staircase.
Damn it. The last thing Babe needed was for Bill to think he had tried to kill himself. “Fine.” He consented, “But you’re just going to think I’m crazy.”
Gene thought about the events that had transpired in the past few days. “I highly doubt it.” He responded.
Dick Winters and Lewis Nixon, Somewhere in California
Dick heard a groan and turned to look at the man waking up in the passenger seat of the vehicle Sink had provided him with. The pale and sickly looking man had his head practically glued to the window and Dick figured that coming out of a drug induced state of unconsciousness must have been relatively unpleasant.
“Nice to see you awake. How do you feel?” Dick asked as softly as he could, although he was pretty certain that he already knew the answer to such a question.
“What?” The man, Lewis Nixon, began to sit up, still groggy and disoriented. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
“You’re in a car on your way out of California. Any further explanation will probably require you to be slightly more aware.” Dick answered him.
The other man sat up quickly and looked around. “What? No! I’m supposed to be locked up. I’m not safe to be around!”
Dick took his eyes off of the road momentarily to give what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. You can’t hurt anyone as long as you’re with me.”
The man shook his head. “No you don’t understand. I-”
But Dick just cut him off. “I do understand. Better than you do actually.”
Nixon stared at him, “Who are you?”
“That’s the part that’s difficult to explain.” Dick answered. “All that I can really tell you right now is that I want to help you.”
“Is that so? I don’t even know who the Hell you are.” Nixon snapped. Although if he were being honest with himself, he felt more relaxed and safe with the man in the driver’s seat than he had in a long time. Yet after all that had happened, he was wary of trusting anybody- much less mysterious men that showed up and somehow managed to make multiple murder charges disappear.
“My name is Dick Winters”. The red head told him. “And I came to get you out of there on behalf of a Company who wants to study and utilize your miraculous strength.”
Lewis looked at him in shock, “How does anyone know about that? I hardly know shit about that!”
Winters shrugged, “There are many people out there that have extraordinary gifts. Like you and yet different. But this Company didn’t want to help you. Not really. They wanted to use you.”
“Gifts? Like what?” Lewis asked. He supposed it was possible. The cop that Ron had taken such an interest in had read both of their minds. His own ability to rip men in half like rag dolls, however, wasn’t something he would necessarily call a gift.
“Healing, teleportation, mind reading, time travel.” Winters answered. “If you can dream it up then there’s probably someone out there that can do it.”
“ Time travel?” Lewis asked in disbelief.
Dick nodded. “Trust me- it’s hard to believe even when you see it with your own two eyes.”
“What about you?” Lewis asked his mysterious savior, although the accuracy of such a title remained to be determined, as he tried to get a clear look at the passing scenery. “Do you have a ‘gift’ too?”
The driver stiffened for a moment, before nodding reluctantly. “Yes…but it’s difficult to explain.”
“When isn’t it?” Lewis wondered. “Still…seeing as how I’m at your mercy I think I deserve to know. If you are trying to help I don’t see what the problem is. It’ll be like a show of good faith.”
Dick supposed he could understand that. He shrugged. “Okay..it’s just that. People…who have abilities. Well…whenever they’re around me- they don’t have abilities anymore. Or my presence suppresses them. I can also manipulate and erase a person’s memories.”
Lewis looked surprised. “Is that…is that why I can’t hear his voice anymore?”
Dick looked over quickly, “You mean your violent alter ego? I believe so. It’s most likely a psychological effect of not being able to properly control such a powerful ability. Your mind must have begun to create an extra persona to manage it when you didn’t realize that you were manifesting.”
“Jesus...you do know more than I do.” Lewis stated in amazement. “Well if this Company is such a piece of shit then what makes you think I’m letting you take me to them?”
“That’s not where I’m taking you.” Winters told him. “Do you know who Roberts Sink is?”
“The hotel owner?” Lewis said. “Yeah I know who he is. Who doesn’t? Besides he’s an old friend of my father’s.”
That made Dick laugh ever so slightly. “What’s so funny?” Nixon asked.
“It’s just…I recently found out he was a good friend of my father’s too.” Dick explained. “He funds a place up in Washington where he sends people like yourself to keep them safe from the Company I work for. There’s a woman there who should be able to help you control your ability.”
“Right. So why do you work for these people if you’re such a selfless do-gooder?” Nixon asked. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do than get to know Dick Winters. Besides…he was mysterious and incredibly gorgeous.
Just like Ron had been…and look where that had gotten him.
“I have my reasons.” Dick answered before realizing that the answer probably wouldn’t be suitable for the other man. “I have to…in order to keep someone close to me safe.”
“Wife?” Nixon asked, although he hadn’t seen a ring on the man’s hand. Not to mention that he didn’t exactly have the best angle for such a search.
Winters gave a half smile and shook his head. “No…I’m not married.”
“So you’re single?”
Dick paused at the question. Had they been flirting? He honestly couldn’t tell these days. Whether they had been or not, he already knew the answer to that question. It may not have been true in the traditional sense but…
“No. No I’m taken.” He said seriously, more to the windshield than to the man beside him.
Lewis, for his part, felt kind of sad at the answer. Although he wasn’t sure why. He shrugged. “That’s probably for the best. I’ve sworn off men anyway.”
“Is that so? What makes you think I would have gone for you anyhow?” Dick questioned with a smile.
“Oh trust me,” Nixon said, “you’d have been powerless to resist. I can be very persistent.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep…I would have swept you off your feet eventually.”
Dick laughed. “Are we flirting?”
Nixon smiled for the first time in a while now as he looked over at the other man. “I believe so.”
“Interesting. Why have you sworn off men?” Dick figured he was allowed to ask questions too.
“Bad, bad relationship. That ended very finally and very recently.”
“How bad exactly?”
Lewis made a face. “Well he cheated on me with my best friend. Multiple times. Then I almost killed him when I went all schizo.”
“Goodness that is bad.” Dick felt sorry for the other man. Cheating was…well he imagined it must be a difficult thing to deal with.
“Did you just say ‘goodness’?” Lewis asked with a smirk.
Dick looked at him in confusion. “Yes. Why?”
“That’s just pretty adorable.”
“I’m taken remember.” Dick joked.
Nixon nodded. “Right and I’m off men.”
“Do you really think women will be much better?”
“I won’t know until I meet one. So what’s this significant other of yours like?” Lewis asked his new companion.
He watched as Winter’s remarkable eyes (and damn him for even noticing) began to take on a faraway look. No chemistry he managed to have with this man would matter it seemed. Because just looking at him now…Lewis could tell he was in love with whomever he was thinking about. And he couldn’t help but feel jealous. Because he had thought he was in love with Ron…but it had all been a lie. There had been no love in that relationship.
“It’s…complicated.” Winters answered him finally.
Lewis smirked, “It seems to be with you.”
Winters laughed and Nixon couldn’t help but be pleased at the easy way they were conversing.
It was possible to just be friends with someone right? No matter how attractive they might be. Lewis needed friends more than lovers at this point in his life.
Still…he wondered if anyone would ever really love him.
Company HQ, Manhattan, NY
“So what are you guys going to do? Are you going to save him?” Eli wondered as he kicked his legs up and down from his spot on the bed.
“Eli I need you to not talk for like- 5 minutes. If that’s possible.” Joe instructed him as he began to dial Webster’s number. He ignored the child sticking his tongue out at him as the phone rang.
Finally David answered. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Calm down I’m fine.” Joe sighed. “But we’re going to have to move that rescue up to like- in the next two hours. It turns out they’re secretly killing people over here and Skip’s boyfriend is apparently next.”
“That all seems very..the Giver like.”
Joe made a face at the phone. “It is nothing like in the Giver.”
“Yes it is. Did you even read that book?”
“Yeah I read that book you jerk.” Joe huffed. “In case you forget you and I went to the same college Harvard boy.”
“Oh God please don’t start that again.”
“Well don’t be such a jerk.”
“Why do you keep calling me a jerk? You’re like the most foul mouthed person I know.”
“Because I have an 8 year old audience.” Joe answered.
“Aww you’re censoring yourself? How nice of you.” Webster teased.
“Shut up.” Joe snapped. “Look they’re keeping him on the second to last floor. But it’s probably going to be heavily guarded. I’ll try to get down there-”
“No.” Webster cut him off. “We already talked about this. It’s too dangerous for you to get involved. I’ll handle it. Just make sure you’re far away from there for the next hour.”
“The next hour?” Joe asked, “Don’t you want to plan it at all?”
“Just steer clear okay? I have to go. Good-”
“Wait. Just be-”
“bye.” Webster finished before hanging up.
“careful.” Joe said with a frown and hung up as well.
He had a bad feeling about this.
Philadelphia, PA
Bill frowned as he checked the time on his phone aboard the plane. They were maybe 10 minutes from landing and it would probably be 15 minutes before he could call Babe and tell him that he was back in town. Though Dick had left him a message letting him know their brother was safe, it was something he would always fret over.
He would have called him earlier, but he had been running so late thanks to his meeting with Dike that he hadn’t had the time.
Leaning back into his seat, he watched the ground get gradually closer. Unlike some of the people he knew, he couldn’t teleport himself off the plane anytime soon…he would just have to wait.
“Would you HURRY UP!” Luz shouted towards the bathroom where Christenson had been taking a shower for what seemed like an eternity. It most likely hadn’t been that long but George couldn’t help it if he was eager to question his son’s suspected kidnapper.
His mind was plagued with worry for Eli. Whether he was safe, whether he was cold. What if he was hungry or scared or hurt? It was all he could think about.
“FIVE MINUTES!” Burton shouted back.
Luz stomped over to the slightly cracked open bathroom door where steam was slowly creeping out. He pushed it open a bit more and fixed the shower with a stare, making the water run cold.
He heard the FBI agent shriek and let himself smirk in his victory. But then Christenson jerked the shower curtain back partly and stuck his torso out.
“LUZ what the HELL?” He shouted, his eyes were closed due to shampoo that was running off of his soapy hair and into his face and he must not have known that Luz was right in front of him.
George just stared dumbly at the other man’s well defined and naked upper body before stuttering out an apology and using his ability to return the water to warm. He spun on his heel and ran back into the motel room.
Holy crap- had he just been thinking about sex? When his son was missing? He was so going to burn for that. Suddenly he had something other than Eli on his mind. Oh God…why had he thought it would be a smart idea to go in there?
His guilt trip over the direction his thoughts had taken preoccupied him until Christenson emerged from the bathroom with a towel slung around his waist, glaring at Luz. “That wasn’t funny.”
Luz just stared at the half naked man for a moment. “I…will be waiting by the car.”
Burton watched in confusion as the other man practically fled the hotel room. “What the Hell was that?” he wondered to himself.
As he began to pull out something that thankfully wasn’t a suit, his mind caught up with the situation. “Oh…”
He allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk. “Ha…he so wants me.”
Now if they could just find some answers pertaining to Eli’s whereabouts without having to shoot anyone then it might actually turn out to be a good day.
Luz wasn’t exactly what one would call shy. Nor was he a saint. There had been other lovers in his life since Renee had disappeared. Both men and women…but he still couldn’t help being a little uncomfortable sitting next to Christenson as they drove back to Guarnere’s apartment.
“I can’t reach Gene on my cell.” He said quietly.
Christenson sighed. “Would you please stop that?”
“Stop what?” Luz asked, clearly confused.
“Being all awkward.” Burton answered. “So you saw me without a shirt. Big deal. I’m not that hot.”
Luz didn’t feel as horrified at being called out as he had expected to be. After all, he supposed, he and Christenson were on fairly similar wave lengths. “You kind of are actually.” George answered.
Burton grinned. “It’s not like we did anything to be embarrassed over.”
“We certainly did in my imagination.”
Christenson laughed as they parked their rental car across the street from Bill Guarnere’s apartment building. “I knew I liked you.”
Luz laughed as well as he watched Burton take his weapon out of the holster attached to his jeans and check the clip inside. “I know you have another one of those somewhere.” He commentated as casually as he could.
Burton gave him a pointed stare. “You’re high as shit if you think I’m giving you a gun.” He told him.
Well apparently Luz hadn’t been as subtle as he’d hoped. Christenson got out of the car and motioned for him to follow.
Once they got across the street, the agent frowned. “Great- you need a code to get in. So much for me casing the place.”
Luz rolled his eyes and moved in front of Burton. “You’re forgetting who you’re with.” He said as he put a hand next to the security system. A moment later there was a buzz and the green light next to the building’s front doors lit up, indicating that it was unlocked. Luz motioned to it. “After you.”
Burton grinned. “That’s really freaking cool.”
“This is the third time I’ve tried to get a hold of you. Why aren’t you answering your phone? If you aren’t home when I get there, I’m going to come looking for you.” Bill spoke to his brother’s voicemail.
This was getting ridiculous. He needed to get home as soon as possible. Hopefully the kid had just neglected to plug his cell phone into the charger. With Babe, it was a problem that wasn’t all that unheard of.
He took off to the airport parking garage with a sigh.
“Unfortunately,” Luz noted, “My ability doesn’t seem to think of a manual door lock as a machine.”
They were standing outside of Guarnere’s apartment door. After a series of knocking it had been concluded that the place was empty. Burton made a face at Luz. “Please- this is
something I don’t need you for.” He joked as he pulled out a credit card from his wallet. “What have you never broken into anywhere?”
Luz eyed the credit card doubtfully. “It’s been awhile.”
After s few jiggles and pushes, Burton was opening the door. “Alright wait here. I’m going to make sure,” he began before Luz simply walked past him and into the apartment, “that no one is here. Okay never mind then.”
George looked the place over and turned to face Christenson. “So now what?”
Burton closed the door and locked it back. “Now we wait for him to come home. I suppose you could try calling Gene again.”
“Sure.”
As Bill headed down the hallway towards his apartment, he could feel his exhaustion begin to set in. All he wanted was to go to sleep. Hopefully he would get inside and Babe would be sitting on the couch being a typical 16 year old slob who hadn’t realized his phone was dead.
That way Bill could collapse on his bed and get some rest.
However when Bill unlocked his door and took a few steps in, not only was Babe not sitting on the couch, but he could tell that something was off.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. His hand reached for his gun, which he had kept in his car for when he returned, but before he could grab it he heard the ever familiar sound of a gun clicking off of safety and felt cold metal on his neck.
“Don’t move.” A voice instructed him. Bill knew better than to do that anyway. Shit. Where was Babe?
“Luz.” The same voice called out to the man who Bill had seen move off at the other side of the room.
Bill tensed when he saw the short, brown haired man. He had been one of the ones who had captured George Luz. He knew what the man was capable of. He waited as the man behind him, who was holding the gun and whose identity was still a mystery, instructed Luz to take Guarnere’s weapon and put it on the coffee table.
Well at least he knew that Luz wasn’t here about Babe. Shit…Babe. Now he would hear Bill’s message and rush home.
He wasn’t sure how this was going to go down. Without a doubt this man was searching for his son. Bill knew that if it were Babe missing, he would do whatever it took to find him.
This wasn’t going to end well.
Ronald Speirs, Carwood Lipton and Buck Compton, Los Angeles, CA
Buck just stared at his two companions, finding the secretive smiles on their faces somewhat suspicious. Well to be honest, he was mostly disturbed by the fact that Ron looked like he actually might have been laughing. The other agent was the most serious man that Buck knew.
“What the Hell are you two so excited about?” He asked them.
Ron smiled as Lipton quickly covered up a laugh. “Nothing. We just went down and had a word with the lab tech is all.”
Buck frowned, knowing that the news was probably not good. These things couldn’t be rushed, especially not without proper communication between both parties. “How’d that go?” he wondered.
Ron held up a file, “We got a DNA match off some old hospital records.”
“You’re kidding.” Buck said in disbelief.
Lipton shook his head. “Nope. Better than that we have a name. Roy Cobb. Lives in an apartment in Queens.”
Buck sighed. “New York. Again. How the Hell is he getting out here so quickly?”
Lipton and Ron shared a look, both remembering what they had seen the previous night.
Finally Ron looked over at Lipton with smirk. “You ever been to New York?”
A/N: Well apparently all the things covered in Company Man are going to have to span two chapters in this story because the length of this chapter was getting a bit out of hand and I just have so many gosh darn characters to take care of! I didn’t want to rush the action scenes I have planned so they’ll have to be in the next one. I’m rather excited about it.