Special (16/20) Part 1
Title: Special (16/20)
Pairings: Well so far we have Winters/Guarnere and Webster/Liebgott. All the others are either past, implied, past AND implied or haven’t developed to the point of being in the pairings section. They’ll get there.
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.
Cross posted to ihave_no_idea and Camp Toccoa
Previous chapters can be found inside.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
Philadelphia, PA,
Gene had hardly moved an inch since the death and subsequent revival of Babe on the young man’s living room floor. The teen was still clutching at him tightly and silently as men dressed in suits came and carted off an unconscious Christenson and a struggling Luz.
Though Gene had his hand, it was Guarnere who held Babe’s gaze as the two of them communicated in a wordless fashion that Gene supposed only brothers could understand.
However their communication was cut off as the man who had first broken through the door cleared his throat. Guarnere reluctantly tore his eyes away from his brother’s to look at the man, who simply jerked his head to the hallway outside. “Bill, may I have a word with you?”
Guarnere rose slowly and nodded, shooting Babe and Gene one last look before he walked outside with the mysterious man. Gene wasn’t sure why they had left them alone, but he knew this was their best chance to make a break for it.
As soon as the door had shut behind the two men, Gene turned to Babe, grasped his wrist, stood and pulled the young man to his feet. “We have to get out of here now!” Gene whispered to him frantically.
Babe stared at him in shock, “What? No! I’m not going anywhere until I get the chance to talk to my brother!”
Gene shook his head. “Look Babe I hate to tell you this but your brother is not a good guy. He locks people like us up! He locked me-”
“I know!” Babe cut him off. At Gene’s confused look he elaborated, “Someone told me what he was doing. But I know my brother, and he isn’t evil. He would never just hand me over to be locked away.”
Gene frowned at him, “Are you willing to bet your life on how well you think you know your brother?”
Babe stared before nodding. “My life? Sure. But not yours. If you wanna get out of here there’s a fire escape next to the hall bathroom. It’s not incredibly sturdy but I get the feeling you could probably survive a 3 storey fall.”
Though it was a tempting offer, Gene shook his head, “I’m not leaving without you.”
“Well then I guess you aren’t leaving at all.”
Out in the hallway, Bill wasn’t sure what to say. Not that it mattered as it seemed Sobel was willing to get the conversation rolling.
“It appears that young Edward has developed an ability.” His boss said, just to state the obvious. “How long has he been able to regenerate?”
Bill took a deep swallow as he shook his head, “I’ve never seen him do anything like that. Besides I thought his blood work was clean? Are we sure that maybe Roe isn’t some kind of healer?”
Sobel raised an eyebrow, “You’re suggesting that Roe might have 2 abilities? That’s a bit of a stretch.”
Bill just shrugged, “Not really. Webster can travel through time and teleport. Two seemingly unrelated things that are interconnected through a single ability. And Roe did have physical contact with Babe at the time.”
At that, Sobel smiled, “So I noticed. When did those two have the chance to meet I wonder?”
Bill frowned, “I’d like to know myself. I’d also like to know why you didn’t cart Roe off with the other two? If you don’t mind me asking that is.”
His boss shook his head. “Not at all. You see we’ve suspected that Edward might have an ability for some time. His birth parents did and there actually was an indicator in initial blood work that suggested he would develop one. We warned your parents that he might eventually. Unfortunately they never reported anything before their demise. But now we have evidence enough to at least bring him in and draw some fresh blood. We don’t want to take his new…friend away. It might scare him off.”
And Bill didn’t like the sound of that at all. “What are you thinking?”
“That maybe there’s more to Edward than meets the eye. It’s fairly coincidental that he displays the same regenerative ability while in the presence of the only special we have on record of possessing such a power. Although if that really is all he can do, with you as a connection Edward could be a valuable agent someday.”
Edward, Edward, Edward. Never Bill’s brother…because he had never been any such thing in Sobel’s eyes. Bill couldn’t let all his worst nightmares come true. He had to get Babe to safety.
Company Headquarters, Manhattan, NY
Eli had stayed in his room, just like Liebgott had told him to, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hear the commotion going on outside his door. The sound of sirens had finally wound down, but now there was shouting. Something had gone wrong and Liebgott still hadn’t come back.
He didn’t have to spend the hectic day all alone however, because soon after the noise had started, a woman had shoved someone into the room with him, barking at both of them to stay put. Like they had anywhere to go.
Lifting his chin out of his hand he gave the blond girl across from him a small smile. She looked terrified.
“What’s going on?” she whispered and just by hearing the intense fear in her voice Eli could have known she had already lived through something traumatic.
But he didn’t need to hear her voice, he had already seen her story in his mind, and it wasn’t for the faint of heart. “Don’t worry.” He assured her, “It’s not him. You just got here at a bad time is all. I’m Eli.”
The girl looked down at her clasped hands and nodded. “I’m Sherry.”
Eli sighed in his head, because he knew exactly who she was.
Henry rubbed at his forehead in exhaustion, willing his migraine to subside. Not only had his own lab assistant gone all sleeper agent on them, but he’d killed one of their doctors. And on top of that Dike had informed him (unnecessarily loudly) that David Webster had infiltrated the building and taken Liebgott and Donald Malarkey with them.
As a result of Liebgott’s apparent kidnapping, they were pushing Henry even harder to determine whether the man was more than just a mimic. This was asked of him despite the fact that Henry would need the man himself to ever be 100 percent sure.
He couldn’t understand all the different aspects of Liebgott’s ability without the man there to be tested by himself and Spina. He knew that the Company had a list of prospects, people they had suspected to turn up with a multi-faceted ability. Henry had created a formula for narrowing them down, but he couldn’t give the Company the thing they wanted most- a name.
In order to be sure of anything they were going to have to bring every person on that list into the Company’s HQ for testing. And even if they found the empath, Henry knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. Why would they want someone like that so badly? Once he found them, what would they want Henry to do with them?
If he had ever learned anything from watching his father’s downward spiral, it was that science never gave you a simple answer. It only produced more questions, and more searches. Sometimes Henry worried that he’d be searching forever.
He popped two more aspirin and took up one of his favorite past times, looking over his father’s research. His father had been studying people with abilities ever since he had lost his job at the University. The names on his list were unorganized and hadn’t appeared to be much help. He had spoken often of a Patient Zero. The first one he had ever approached, a man that his father noted as having great potential only to later declare the man unstable and unsuitable for further study. His father never gave a name.
Looking over the list his father had compiled, Henry began a cross reference with the list of names his formula had produced for the Company. It was a lazily performed action, done more out of boredom than anything else. He didn’t expect to find anything. The Company list had names of people who were in the system and had either been witnessed using an ability or had a medical sample tested to prove they had the genetic disposition for one. His father had been working on faith, something dangerous in a scientific study.
But halfway through the cross reference, a name lit up Henry’s computer. The scientist sat up straighter, in disbelief, not having imagined the possibility that his father had been studying one of their potential empaths.
He stared at the name….Roy Cobb.
Ronald Speirs, Carwood Lipton, and Buck Compton, Somewhere between California and New York
Sitting alone on their plane ride to New York, Buck was stuck two seats behind Ron and his LAPD cop. He sighed and wondered how he always seemed to wind up on the outside looking in. He had been on the outside of Ron and Lewis’s relationship, wanting what they had. On the outside of a plexi-glass window, looking at a best friend he no longer knew, and now on the outside of his own goddamn murder investigation, with hardly a clue as to what was really going on. And why? Because Ron didn’t trust him enough to fill him in.
Although deep down Buck knew he’d never had Ron’s trust. But at least when they had been seeing each other, Buck comforted himself with the knowledge that Ron didn’t trust anybody but his partner Christenson and even that relationship wasn’t on an intimate level.
But as he watched Ron give Lipton smiles more genuine than he had ever seen on his face, Buck wasn’t sure what kind of relationship he was looking at. Either way he was still on the outside.
“Okay what am I thinking about now?”
Lipton frowned in concentration as he listened to the soft mummer of Speirs thoughts. He looked at him quizzically, “The A-team?”
Ron snorted, “That’s incredible.”
“You watched the A-team?”
“Whatever. At least I didn’t watch Bonanza.”
“That’s a good show.”
“Sure. I bet you watched The Waltons too.”
“….”
“You did didn’t you?”
“It was sweet.”
“Okay what am I picturing in my mind right now?” Ron asked with an honest to God grin on his face.
Lipton shrugged, “I don’t know if it works that way. I think I might only be able to hear thoughts, not see them.”
“Give it a try.”
Carwood nodded wondering, not for the first time, whether or not he was doing this because he wanted to or because Speirs was subtly influencing him to. He closed his eyes in concentration and tried to see whatever it was Speirs was seeing.
His mouth fell open, “I’ve never worn overalls in my life!”
Ron couldn’t help but laugh, “Well now you have in my head John Boy.”
And Speirs for his part was worried that he was so thoroughly enjoying Lipton’s company. He wondered if maybe they weren’t both a little overwhelmed over their recent injuries or maybe they were only bonding because of the bizarre sequence of events that had brought them into one another’s orbit.
But at the back of his mind was a voice (which sounded annoyingly like Christenson) telling him that this guy, this time, was different. And maybe he could have figured that out for himself. After all, the guy could READ minds. He was also probably entirely straight, and of course their relationship, no matter what nature, would always be unique due to the previously observed circumstances.
Yet the voice persisted, ‘No Ron…this guy is really different. Not in the Professor X way, but in the way you’ve always wanted someone in your life to be different. You could be different too.’
And Ron wasn’t sure how to feel about that. He only hoped that Lipton couldn’t hear his subconscious thoughts as well. He tried to focus instead on the possible confrontation with Roy Cobb, but had a feeling he’d be too distracted the whole plane ride to New York by the man next to him.
Lewis Nixon and Dick Winters, Seattle, WA
The large kitchen in Grace’s home was filled with a tension that Lewis tried to ignore as he took a small bite of the turkey sandwich that Grace had thrown together for him. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. And on top of that, he felt better after a shower and change of clothes. More human.
All the tension was coming from Winters, who was silently staring at his cell phone as he braced his arms against the kitchen counter.
Across from Nixon, Grace was calmly chopping carrots on a cutting board- making lunch for some other house guests that Lewis had yet to meet. She seemed to be perfectly aware of the intensity of Winters’ silence, but made no move to comment on it.
Lewis was temporarily torn between his desire to ask his new friend what was wrong, or to simply watch the skillful work of Grace’s hands. He eventually turned to Winters. “Dick…what’s going on?”
Winters didn’t startle at Lewis’s question, merely lifted his eyes to look at him and gave him what was likely meant to be a reassuring smile. “Nothing to do with you, Nix. Don’t worry. You’ll be safe here.”
And Nixon was surprised, because the truth was that he hadn’t considered the possibility that his situation could be the cause of Winters’ distress. Although the other man was indeed putting his neck out for him.
“Yeah alright.” Lewis nodded before pressing the issue a bit. “But everything’s not okay with you, is it?”
Dick stared at him before sighing. “No…it’s my brother and my..There’s trouble at home. I’m just waiting on some news. That’s all.”
Finally Grace spoke up, although her eyes stayed on her cooking. “If you need to go Dick? Just go. Family is important I hear. And I know your position in the Company is likely to be suspect already and you’ll need to check in soon. Besides, I can take care of him.”
At this she looked up at Lewis, who couldn’t take his eyes off her soft, almost teasing smile. Dick looked between them for a moment before asking, “But his ability? What will happen to him if I’m not here?”
Lewis frowned as Grace turned her attention to Dick and the two of them began to speak about the nature of his ability and its affect on his mental state as though he were not there. He took an aggravated chomp from his sandwich before growling, “Christ Dick, just go! I haven’t known you that long but even I know that your family means everything to you. I’ll be fine. You’ve done enough for me.”
Winters stared at him with admiration in his colorful eyes. He looked back to Grace, who nodded. With a small smile he walked around the counter and stopped next to Nixon. “Listen Lewis…if you need anything- call me. And let me know you’re okay.”
Nixon nodded, touched into silence as Winters handed him a card with his number on it. Then the man touched him on the shoulder, and was gone.
Lewis watched him go with a sigh before turning back to Grace, who was observing him curiously. “He was your friend?” she asked although it didn’t sound like much of a question.
He shrugged. “Kinda.” When Grace turned her attention back to her work, he asked, “You’ve heard family is important?”
Grace smiled thinly. “I didn’t exactly grow up in one.”
“But you have one now.” He pointed out, thinking back on Robert Sink.
She looked at him with a smile, “That’s true.” She then gestured to an assortment of vegetables next to the sink. “Will you wash those onions for me?”
He shrugged and slid off his stool to complete the task. “Do you like to cook?” he asked her.
Facing away from her he couldn’t see her reaction but could hear the soft ‘mm-hmm’ that she spoke. “It’s relaxing.” She explained, “Which is why I want you to help me do it from now on.”
He turned to face her, the onions in his hands dripping water down to the floor. She turned to relieve him of them and he nervously looked at the knife she left unattended. He realized that he hadn’t moved and she had her hands frozen on the onions in his as she watched him.
“You think I need to relax?” He asked her after a moment.
She huffed out a laugh and pulled away from him, taking the vegetables with her. “Maybe…or maybe I think you just need to learn how to cook.”
Philadelphia, PA
Bill wasn’t sure how to start this conversation that he so desperately needed to have with Babe, but when he walked back into the apartment to see Gene Roe and his brother standing so close that they were breathing each other’s air, his protective older brother instincts started it for him.
He slammed the door violently and the two jumped apart. Bill walked over to Roe and shoved him backwards roughly, “What the HELL are you doing sniffing around my sixteen year old brother?”
Babe groaned in embarrassment despite the seriousness of their current situation. Roe’s eyes widened to a comical size and he peered around Bill to look at Babe. “You’re sixteen?”
The teenager shrugged solemnly and jerked his head to the side, “The fire escape is still an option.”
Despite the queasiness in his stomach, Gene shook his head quickly. “I already told you I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“Damn right you aren’t.” Bill broke in, “Because as long as you’re around he can’t get hurt. But I swear if you so much as look at him funny-”
“BILL!” Babe shouted, “Is this REALLY what you want to talk about? HONESTLY? Because we have some REAL shit to we need to discuss!”
Bill turned to face his brother and nodded before glaring at Roe. He pointed to the couch, “Sit.” He ordered the man, who did so with a frown marring his face. Bill only hoped he could maintain the upper hand on the special. Because if Roe wanted to go wild, for whatever reason, there wasn’t much that Bill could do to stop him. The benefits of being indestructible, he supposed.
Babe sat down too but Bill remained standing and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
Finally he looked at his kid brother and asked, “What do you already know?”
Babe swallowed. “That uh…you’re not really a paper salesman...obviously. That you work for a Company that kidnaps people who can do…special things. Uh…Mom and Dad…did they…?”
“Work for the Company? Yeah.” Bill confirmed what Babe had already been told. “What else?”
“That I’m one of those people. I can do…things although I don’t really understand how. And everything I was told about my real parents was bullshit. How could…” Babe paused in anger for a moment, not sure he could control himself. Finally he pinned Bill with a cold stare. “How could you not tell me that Dick is my brother?”
Bill paused for a moment before answering, “I swear to you Babe. Me and Dick just found out a couple of days ago ourselves. If we told you that, we’d have to tell you a lot of things. Things we were hiding from you in order to keep you safe.”
Babe shook his head, “How can I ever trust you again?”
That got Bill on his knee in front of his brother, grasping his leg the way he had always done when he was reassuring Babe of something. “Everything I have done was so that I could be in a position to keep you safe from this Company. Even kidnapping your friend over there. Which I’m sure he’s told you all about already.”
He hadn’t exactly, but Babe wasn’t sure he had it in him to be surprised anymore. Finally Bill sighed and sat next to Babe on the couch, curling an arm around his shoulders. “I would do anything for you, kid. I love you.”
Babe leaned against him and nodded, “What do we do now?”
“First…you need to tell me where you’ve been getting all your information.” Bill said to him, still shocked by just how much Babe already seemed to know. Who had told him all those things?
But his brother backed away from him quickly. “No I swore to him I wouldn’t tell you. He said you’d kill him. That they would kill him.”
Bill shook his head and placed his hands on Babe’s shoulders. “Anyone helping you is a friend to me. I won’t let them get hurt.”
Babe bit his lip and though he appeared to be giving serious thought to keeping quiet, Bill knew that Babe would tell him. And then they could take the proper steps towards getting Babe the hell out of dodge.
“He said he used to work with you. His name’s Joe Toye.”
The silence in the air hung heavy for a long moment. Bill just stared at his brother in
disbelief.
Joe was alive?
New York City
“Are we the fucking FBI or not?” Speirs groused as they strolled away from the last known address of Roy Cobb. His irritation came with the fact that the man had not been at his first listed address and the two places that they’d tracked previous bills to were now occupied by a woman and a family of four respectively.
“Not.” Lipton muttered to Ron’s earlier question, just to be contrary.
Buck rolled his eyes. “So he went off the grid. Not all that unexpected if you’re going to be going around murdering people.”
Ron frowned, because Buck was right- it wasn’t unexpected. However he knew that both he and Lipton had used their advantage when questioning the current tenants and landlords and they had still walked away without any new information. The only thing the landlords had to say was that Roy Cobb was a quiet and reserved young man. Not the trouble making sort according to them.
Although the mutilated bodies of his victims begged to differ.
Suddenly Lipton stopped short on their way back to Ron’s car. “Wait…didn’t one of the landlords say that Cobb used to repair clocks for a living?”
Buck shook his head, “I don’t remember that.”
Ron knew for a fact that nobody had mentioned it…at least not out loud. It must have been something that Lipton had heard. He couldn’t exactly bring it up in front of Buck though, so Ron helped him out by playing along. “Actually I do remember that. The first landlord said he fixed clocks. Not sure about doing it for a living though. But it’s worth looking into.”
Agent Compton frowned as the two of them climbed into the car. He was a seasoned Agent and he knew exactly what he did and didn’t hear during a questioning where every little detail was important. He didn’t know what Ron and Lipton were playing at, but he was sick of being kept in the dark. When they got to the office they were all going to sit down and have a chat.
Back at the Company’s headquarters, a vision had Eli frantically catching the elevator and running down the hallway towards Dike’s office. Sherry trailed after him, reluctant to be alone.
The child burst through the man’s door, his tiny chest heaving as his short legs had needed to cross three times the distance it’d take most to stroll to Dike’s office. Sherry came up behind him in a jog and stayed close.
Dike was staring at him with a telephone raised halfway to his ear. He lifted an eyebrow at the two children, wondering why Cathy hadn’t been watching them as she had been told to.
Finally Eli took a deep breath. “I had a vision,” he choked out. “About Liebgott.”
That caused Dike to put the phone down. “What exactly did your vision tell you?”
“That Liebgott’s going to come back!” The child informed him hurriedly. “He didn’t betray you and he’s going to convince that guy who took him to bring him back. You can’t hurt him! You’ll need him after what he sees!”
Dike frowned down at the child from behind his desk, “What exactly does he see?”
Deep down, Eli didn’t want to say it, but he knew that if he didn’t go to bat for Liebgott then the man would never be safe from these weird people. And Eli wouldn’t have anyone to help him get back to his Dad, “The future. How everything turns out…that’s where he is now.”
When Dike stood up abruptly Eli instinctively moved in front of Sherry, unable to trust even the tiniest movement that the man made. Dike smiled at the motion, “So afraid. What makes you think I’m going to hurt you? Or, for that matter, that I would ever hurt Liebgott?”
A grim expression came over the young boy’s face that would have been far more at home on someone thrice his age. “You can say whatever you want to me now. But my visions don’t lie.” The boy declared defiantly.
Dike watched in curiosity as Eli stared him down, until movement near his door forced him to look away. Cathy, the young recruit who had been meant to watch the children, was standing there looking embarrassed and behind her stood Dr. Jones, who looked excited as he clutched a folder in his hands.
“We need to talk.” Dr. Jones said over the children's heads with a wave of his file. For such a polite young man he could be very direct when he had just made a breakthrough. Dike immediately moved forward to shoo the others out of his office.
“Mr. Dike I am so sorry-” Cathy began to blabber an apology before Dike raised his hand to silence her.
“Everything’s fine so long as you don’t let them out of your sight from here on out.” He told her sternly. She nodded and began to lead Eli and Sherry away but Dike caught Eli’s shoulder.
The child turned to glare at him heatedly, looking as if he wanted to fight him somehow and for a moment Dike mused over how much the boy was going to turn out like his father. “It was good of you to tell me about your vision Eli. We appreciate that information around here and hope you continue to do so in the future.”
‘Don’t count on it.’ Eli thought to himself darkly as he was released from Dike’s grip. His father had always told him he should be careful who he talked about his visions with and it was time that Eli started listening. From now on, Dike would only know what Eli chose to tell him. Whether it was true or not.
His vision had shown him Liebgott and his boyfriend in the future-trying to get back, and had indeed proved that Dike and these people were capable of hurting him and others. But it also showed him that Liebgott had every intention of betraying them. And if Eli had to tweak his vision to help Liebgott succeed, then that was okay by him.
Because if these people weren’t stopped somehow? The future would be very bad…for all of them.
Dike gestured for Henry to sit as he moved back behind his desk. “Do tell me what is so urgent Dr. Jones?”
Henry practically zipped over to the chair he’d been offered as he buzzed with energy, his previous troubles forgotten and his head no longer aching as thoughts on this new discovery raced through his mind.
“As you’re aware, I’ve been holding on to my father’s original list of research subjects for some time. This is done in spite of the fact that we gave up on any real accuracy in that list. That is until just recently when I performed a simple cross reference and discovered that my father was aware of a special that was not only in our system, but is one whose name is on our lists of potential empaths.” Henry explained in a rush.
“And which name might that be?” Dike wondered.
“Roy Cobb.” Henry answered before continuing quickly, “Now I know that we haven’t had much reason to approach him, after all we haven’t heard any news of him so he wasn’t a high priority but I have reason to believe he may have intentionally gone off the grid.”
“Explain.”
The doctor nodded, “We noticed that in the time before my father’s murder, many of his test subjects that he recorded as having seen use their abilities were also gruesomely killed. It was around that time that Roy Cobb began to move to different traceable addresses before dropping off the grid after my father’s murder. I think he’s trying to hide. Afraid that whoever killed my father and his research subjects is going to come after him as well.”
Dike smiled knowingly, “So you believe that by finding him, not only will you lead us to a potential empath, but you may gain some information about your father’s murder in the process.”
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it, yes.” Henry answered. “Being that I am my father’s son he has no real reason to fear me. The only problem is that he seems to be untraceable.”
“Well it just so happens that we have recently acquired a very accurate method for tracking down just about anyone in the world.” Dike told him as he began to stand.
Henry looked up at him in confusion. “What method exactly?”
“Come and see for yourself.”
Sherry frowned down at the map before her, wanting nothing more than to be back at home with her parents. But that was never going to happen. They were dead and she was stuck
here..wherever here was…and all because she had this stupid gift!
She’d give it up in a heartbeat for just one last moment with her family.
Biting her lip she turned her eyes away from the map on the table and up towards the two men who had given it to her. “The last time I used my ability, someone murdered my parents.” She informed them.
Henry’s stomach dropped as he looked into her sad eyes. He had been informed that a little girl with an ability had been brought in, but with all the commotion of the day he hadn’t been able to meet her. He didn’t know anything about her, except that she was obviously scared.
Dike crouched down in front of her and Henry couldn’t help but noticed that the movement had made little Eli Luz, still in the room, frown. He obviously didn’t trust Dike, or probably Henry for that matter, and it was always disheartening to realize that you’d gained the mistrust of a mature child.
“Sherry this man that we want you to find? He’s a lot like you.” Dike explained to the girl.
“He has an ability and we think someone may be trying to hurt him. We just want to keep him safe.”
That seemed to work on the child as her eyes widened at the thought of someone else getting hurt just because they were different. She nodded her consent. “What’s his name?” she asked.
“His name is Roy Cobb.” Henry spoke up, “Do you really think you can find him?”
Sherry sighed as she picked up a push pin and let her hand hover over the US map. “If he’s alive and on the planet Earth? I can find him.”
That was just what she did, she found people. No matter where they were or how well they could hide, she’d still find them. And there might be a hundred Roy Cobbs nearby but somehow her ability would only find the one it needed to find. It worked better if she had a picture or something that belonged to them, but it wasn’t necessary.
Closing her eyes the young girl’s face took on a look of extreme concentration as her hand began to float across the map. This went on for minutes before she tilted her head, “He’s really close. To here.”
Henry wanted to ask how close, but figured it wouldn’t do to interrupt her. Finally her hand made a decisive clunk and the pin was plopped onto New Jersey. She looked up at them, “He’s in a house about 7 miles from Jersey City. Get me some paper and I’ll write down the address.”
With a smile Henry handed her the small notebook he carried with him. “Thank you Sherry. You’ve been very helpful.”
Dike nodded once she was done writing, “Indeed you have. You’re a very special girl, Sherry.”
For her part, Sherry was just glad that they were now leaving. She watched them go with a frown, only hoping that she had been able to help this mysterious man in a way no one had been
able to help her parents.
“You know they lie right?” The boy in her room, Eli, spoke up. “We don’t know who that guy they are looking for is. But I doubt they wanna help him. They probably just want to kidnap him. Keep him here as prisoners like you and me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Sherry stated.
Eli looked at her funny. “It doesn’t?”
“Officer Lipton found me once, he’ll do it again.” She told him with certainty. “And when he does? They’ll be sorry.”
Now that they were back at FBI headquarters, Buck was ready to get down to the business of locating Roy Cobb, but he knew there were some things he needed to understand first. Shutting the door to Ron and Christenson’s office behind them- he was just about to open his mouth and start demanding answers when Lipton beat him to the punch.
“I know you have questions.” The cop said giving Buck this sad look that made Buck feel bad for hating him. But jealousy was a hard thing to control.
He got over feeling bad fairly quickly and laughed at Lipton’s statement. “Do you now? Well then tell me- what is it that I want to know?”
Lipton sighed before making his detailed response, “You want to know how we knew about Cobb’s clock repair shop. You want to know why Ron brought me here when on paper I appear to be just some L.A street cop that can’t hack it. You want to know why we’re keeping secrets from you and what they are. You want to know why we trust each other when we’ve only met a day ago. You want to know what’s going on with your partner and why Ron’s hasn’t contacted him. You want to know why we’re in Ron’s office and not yours when this is still supposed to be your case, isn’t it?”
At that point Ron jumped in, grabbing Lipton by the elbow, as Buck stared at the cop-speechless. “What the Hell do you think you’re doing?” Ron hissed into Lipton’s ear.
“He wanted to know and you owe him the truth.” Lipton answered as though it were only too obvious.
“I do not owe him-”
“Yes you do.”
“Oh what do you know about it?”
“Everything you’ve THOUGHT about it.”
Ron had pushed his way inside Carwood’s personal space to stare at him intensely but when he opened his mouth to speak, Buck cut him off. “I’m sorry what the HELL is going on?” The blond agent asked in frustration.
He pointed at Lipton, “How did you…I mean everything you said? All those things were this jumbled mess in my head. How did you know?”
Lipton and Speirs locked eyes for a moment before Ron retreated, finally realizing how close they were. He sighed as he turned to address his ex lover. “Buck…you’re going to want to sit down. Also? I’m only going to explain this once and if you give me any shit I WILL shoot you. We have work to do.”
Buck nodded and took a seat. ‘This had better be good,’ he thought to himself.
Joe Toye, Philadelphia, PA
He couldn’t believe this shit. There was no goddamn reason he should agree to meet Babe at the church they’d meant to meet at earlier…but it was dark out and he didn’t want the kid to go wandering off and getting lost.
The damn kid had already gotten under his skin if his presence on the church’s roof was any indication. He had received a rather simple and yet desperate voice message in which Babe made it apparent that he was in trouble and needed Joe’s immediate help.
Finally the door to the roof opened with a clang and Toye looked up and tensed when he realized that the person meeting him was not Babe at all.
He stared at his old partner for a short moment before swiftly pulling out the gun he carried and popping off a shot at the man’s head.
However Bill Guarnere wasn’t a field agent for nothing and he ducked back and used the door as a shield, the bullet hitting the stone wall instead of his skull. “Damn it Joe! Hold it! I just want to talk!” The man hollered even as he crouched down and drew his side arm.
Joe cursed his own stupidity…of course it was a fucking trap. All these years of watching his back and now he was going to get killed because he had been dumb enough to trust Bill Guarnere’s kid brother? Although in the back of his mind he had a feeling that Babe was likely innocent, Joe knew all too well how Bill lied and deceived the people around him.
He chanced a look over the edge of the roof top but knew he’d never survive the fall. He’d been lucky enough to survive his last encounter with Guarnere. Going invisible would only keep him from getting immediately shot but Toye didn’t feel like hiding anymore.
No…the only way he was getting out of here was over Guarnere’s dead body. And Joe figured he could live with that.
Holding his gun steady he slowly began to walk further out of Bill’s direct line of fire. “We don’t have anything to talk about man!”
Behind the metal door Bill shook his head with a grimace. “You know that’s not true!”
“Fine asshole.” Joe hollered, “You wanna talk to me? Toss the gun and get out in the open. Hands where I can see them.”
Bill cursed but couldn’t really fault Joe’s paranoia. Here he was just getting used to the fact that Joe was alive. When he had shot him all those years ago, Bill had assumed he had fallen into the body of water below the bridge they’d been standing on. There had blood on the safety railing and he had heard a splash. But he hadn’t the heart to investigate further and had come to accept as fact that he had killed Joe.
Now faced with the opportunity to speak to him again face to face…it was something Bill couldn’t pass up. Even if he hadn’t needed the man’s help. So, even though it was against his training and his instincts, Bill slid his gun out across the church ceiling and abandoned his cover behind the door. Walking out into the open hands first, he was now at Joe’s mercy.
And there he was…Joe. His…well nothing of his…not for a long time. But Bill couldn’t help but always think of him like that. He looked better than Bill had expected him to. Though he was thin and pale and obviously tired he actually appeared younger to Bill. As if he hadn’t aged because Bill had no memory of him aging.
Joe was just looking at him in shock, obviously not having anticipated this turn of events.
Bill kept his hands up, “You know…after all this shit I did to you…it’s kind of funny that the only insult you can come up with is to call me an asshole.” Shit was he actually trying to tease Joe again?
The shock on Joe’s face morphed into anger, “Don’t worry I’ll come up with something better.” He replied coldly. “Now I’ll be nice and give you a whole minute to explain why I shouldn’t do you the same courtesy you did me.”
Bill knew exactly what courtesy he was referring to and didn’t doubt Joe’s sincerity. He started to talk. “I know you’ve been helping Babe. And I’m grateful. You were right. About me, about the Company, all of it. Maybe I didn’t realize it then but I do now. Nothing can make up for what I did to you-”
“That’s for damn sure.” Joe interrupted with a heated glare.
With a tilt of his head Bill accepted his anger before continuing. “But now? We want the same thing. To keep Babe safe. The Company found him out and they’re onto both of us in a big way. They have it figured that he’s an empath. I don’t bring him in so they can confirm it I get made as a traitor and I won’t be able to help anyone.”
Bill could see that Joe was coming around, and no beef with Bill would ever stop Joe from wanting to help others. It was just who he was. Time couldn’t change that.
“And how did you find out about him?” Joe asked.
“My parents…they found out. They witnessed him hovering in the air above his bed about a year ago. Turns out they had been exposing people with abilities to him. He’s on some list of specials and potentials that might have what they call a comprehensive ability. All these peoples with abilities that result in being able to do more than one thing. I don’t know who else is on it but until then they had never seen him do anything before. But his birth mother could fly too…then he started having visions. They put it together pretty quick.”
“How’d you keep them from talking?”
Bill gave him a hard stare. “Dead people don’t have much to talk about.” He answered.
Joe whistled at that. “That’s cold even for you. You killed your own fucking parents?”
“I made my choices.” Bill told him. “I chose my real family. That was always Babe.
Anyways I noticed you haven’t shot me yet.”
At that Joe snorted, “I’m weighing my options.”
Bill nodded, “How did you find out about him?”
“You wouldn’t believe it.” Joe replied, thinking back on Renee’s letters, wondering about the future she had hinted at and how Babe tied into it all. Finally he realized that he had already made his choice, and Guarnere was right…they wanted the same things. To keep Babe out of the Company’s reach.
He looked at his old partner and lowered his weapon slowly. “So how do you expect me to help you?”
“I’ve got an idea or two.”
Continue to Part 2
Pairings: Well so far we have Winters/Guarnere and Webster/Liebgott. All the others are either past, implied, past AND implied or haven’t developed to the point of being in the pairings section. They’ll get there.
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.
Cross posted to ihave_no_idea and Camp Toccoa
Previous chapters can be found inside.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
Philadelphia, PA,
Gene had hardly moved an inch since the death and subsequent revival of Babe on the young man’s living room floor. The teen was still clutching at him tightly and silently as men dressed in suits came and carted off an unconscious Christenson and a struggling Luz.
Though Gene had his hand, it was Guarnere who held Babe’s gaze as the two of them communicated in a wordless fashion that Gene supposed only brothers could understand.
However their communication was cut off as the man who had first broken through the door cleared his throat. Guarnere reluctantly tore his eyes away from his brother’s to look at the man, who simply jerked his head to the hallway outside. “Bill, may I have a word with you?”
Guarnere rose slowly and nodded, shooting Babe and Gene one last look before he walked outside with the mysterious man. Gene wasn’t sure why they had left them alone, but he knew this was their best chance to make a break for it.
As soon as the door had shut behind the two men, Gene turned to Babe, grasped his wrist, stood and pulled the young man to his feet. “We have to get out of here now!” Gene whispered to him frantically.
Babe stared at him in shock, “What? No! I’m not going anywhere until I get the chance to talk to my brother!”
Gene shook his head. “Look Babe I hate to tell you this but your brother is not a good guy. He locks people like us up! He locked me-”
“I know!” Babe cut him off. At Gene’s confused look he elaborated, “Someone told me what he was doing. But I know my brother, and he isn’t evil. He would never just hand me over to be locked away.”
Gene frowned at him, “Are you willing to bet your life on how well you think you know your brother?”
Babe stared before nodding. “My life? Sure. But not yours. If you wanna get out of here there’s a fire escape next to the hall bathroom. It’s not incredibly sturdy but I get the feeling you could probably survive a 3 storey fall.”
Though it was a tempting offer, Gene shook his head, “I’m not leaving without you.”
“Well then I guess you aren’t leaving at all.”
Out in the hallway, Bill wasn’t sure what to say. Not that it mattered as it seemed Sobel was willing to get the conversation rolling.
“It appears that young Edward has developed an ability.” His boss said, just to state the obvious. “How long has he been able to regenerate?”
Bill took a deep swallow as he shook his head, “I’ve never seen him do anything like that. Besides I thought his blood work was clean? Are we sure that maybe Roe isn’t some kind of healer?”
Sobel raised an eyebrow, “You’re suggesting that Roe might have 2 abilities? That’s a bit of a stretch.”
Bill just shrugged, “Not really. Webster can travel through time and teleport. Two seemingly unrelated things that are interconnected through a single ability. And Roe did have physical contact with Babe at the time.”
At that, Sobel smiled, “So I noticed. When did those two have the chance to meet I wonder?”
Bill frowned, “I’d like to know myself. I’d also like to know why you didn’t cart Roe off with the other two? If you don’t mind me asking that is.”
His boss shook his head. “Not at all. You see we’ve suspected that Edward might have an ability for some time. His birth parents did and there actually was an indicator in initial blood work that suggested he would develop one. We warned your parents that he might eventually. Unfortunately they never reported anything before their demise. But now we have evidence enough to at least bring him in and draw some fresh blood. We don’t want to take his new…friend away. It might scare him off.”
And Bill didn’t like the sound of that at all. “What are you thinking?”
“That maybe there’s more to Edward than meets the eye. It’s fairly coincidental that he displays the same regenerative ability while in the presence of the only special we have on record of possessing such a power. Although if that really is all he can do, with you as a connection Edward could be a valuable agent someday.”
Edward, Edward, Edward. Never Bill’s brother…because he had never been any such thing in Sobel’s eyes. Bill couldn’t let all his worst nightmares come true. He had to get Babe to safety.
Company Headquarters, Manhattan, NY
Eli had stayed in his room, just like Liebgott had told him to, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hear the commotion going on outside his door. The sound of sirens had finally wound down, but now there was shouting. Something had gone wrong and Liebgott still hadn’t come back.
He didn’t have to spend the hectic day all alone however, because soon after the noise had started, a woman had shoved someone into the room with him, barking at both of them to stay put. Like they had anywhere to go.
Lifting his chin out of his hand he gave the blond girl across from him a small smile. She looked terrified.
“What’s going on?” she whispered and just by hearing the intense fear in her voice Eli could have known she had already lived through something traumatic.
But he didn’t need to hear her voice, he had already seen her story in his mind, and it wasn’t for the faint of heart. “Don’t worry.” He assured her, “It’s not him. You just got here at a bad time is all. I’m Eli.”
The girl looked down at her clasped hands and nodded. “I’m Sherry.”
Eli sighed in his head, because he knew exactly who she was.
Henry rubbed at his forehead in exhaustion, willing his migraine to subside. Not only had his own lab assistant gone all sleeper agent on them, but he’d killed one of their doctors. And on top of that Dike had informed him (unnecessarily loudly) that David Webster had infiltrated the building and taken Liebgott and Donald Malarkey with them.
As a result of Liebgott’s apparent kidnapping, they were pushing Henry even harder to determine whether the man was more than just a mimic. This was asked of him despite the fact that Henry would need the man himself to ever be 100 percent sure.
He couldn’t understand all the different aspects of Liebgott’s ability without the man there to be tested by himself and Spina. He knew that the Company had a list of prospects, people they had suspected to turn up with a multi-faceted ability. Henry had created a formula for narrowing them down, but he couldn’t give the Company the thing they wanted most- a name.
In order to be sure of anything they were going to have to bring every person on that list into the Company’s HQ for testing. And even if they found the empath, Henry knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. Why would they want someone like that so badly? Once he found them, what would they want Henry to do with them?
If he had ever learned anything from watching his father’s downward spiral, it was that science never gave you a simple answer. It only produced more questions, and more searches. Sometimes Henry worried that he’d be searching forever.
He popped two more aspirin and took up one of his favorite past times, looking over his father’s research. His father had been studying people with abilities ever since he had lost his job at the University. The names on his list were unorganized and hadn’t appeared to be much help. He had spoken often of a Patient Zero. The first one he had ever approached, a man that his father noted as having great potential only to later declare the man unstable and unsuitable for further study. His father never gave a name.
Looking over the list his father had compiled, Henry began a cross reference with the list of names his formula had produced for the Company. It was a lazily performed action, done more out of boredom than anything else. He didn’t expect to find anything. The Company list had names of people who were in the system and had either been witnessed using an ability or had a medical sample tested to prove they had the genetic disposition for one. His father had been working on faith, something dangerous in a scientific study.
But halfway through the cross reference, a name lit up Henry’s computer. The scientist sat up straighter, in disbelief, not having imagined the possibility that his father had been studying one of their potential empaths.
He stared at the name….Roy Cobb.
Ronald Speirs, Carwood Lipton, and Buck Compton, Somewhere between California and New York
Sitting alone on their plane ride to New York, Buck was stuck two seats behind Ron and his LAPD cop. He sighed and wondered how he always seemed to wind up on the outside looking in. He had been on the outside of Ron and Lewis’s relationship, wanting what they had. On the outside of a plexi-glass window, looking at a best friend he no longer knew, and now on the outside of his own goddamn murder investigation, with hardly a clue as to what was really going on. And why? Because Ron didn’t trust him enough to fill him in.
Although deep down Buck knew he’d never had Ron’s trust. But at least when they had been seeing each other, Buck comforted himself with the knowledge that Ron didn’t trust anybody but his partner Christenson and even that relationship wasn’t on an intimate level.
But as he watched Ron give Lipton smiles more genuine than he had ever seen on his face, Buck wasn’t sure what kind of relationship he was looking at. Either way he was still on the outside.
“Okay what am I thinking about now?”
Lipton frowned in concentration as he listened to the soft mummer of Speirs thoughts. He looked at him quizzically, “The A-team?”
Ron snorted, “That’s incredible.”
“You watched the A-team?”
“Whatever. At least I didn’t watch Bonanza.”
“That’s a good show.”
“Sure. I bet you watched The Waltons too.”
“….”
“You did didn’t you?”
“It was sweet.”
“Okay what am I picturing in my mind right now?” Ron asked with an honest to God grin on his face.
Lipton shrugged, “I don’t know if it works that way. I think I might only be able to hear thoughts, not see them.”
“Give it a try.”
Carwood nodded wondering, not for the first time, whether or not he was doing this because he wanted to or because Speirs was subtly influencing him to. He closed his eyes in concentration and tried to see whatever it was Speirs was seeing.
His mouth fell open, “I’ve never worn overalls in my life!”
Ron couldn’t help but laugh, “Well now you have in my head John Boy.”
And Speirs for his part was worried that he was so thoroughly enjoying Lipton’s company. He wondered if maybe they weren’t both a little overwhelmed over their recent injuries or maybe they were only bonding because of the bizarre sequence of events that had brought them into one another’s orbit.
But at the back of his mind was a voice (which sounded annoyingly like Christenson) telling him that this guy, this time, was different. And maybe he could have figured that out for himself. After all, the guy could READ minds. He was also probably entirely straight, and of course their relationship, no matter what nature, would always be unique due to the previously observed circumstances.
Yet the voice persisted, ‘No Ron…this guy is really different. Not in the Professor X way, but in the way you’ve always wanted someone in your life to be different. You could be different too.’
And Ron wasn’t sure how to feel about that. He only hoped that Lipton couldn’t hear his subconscious thoughts as well. He tried to focus instead on the possible confrontation with Roy Cobb, but had a feeling he’d be too distracted the whole plane ride to New York by the man next to him.
Lewis Nixon and Dick Winters, Seattle, WA
The large kitchen in Grace’s home was filled with a tension that Lewis tried to ignore as he took a small bite of the turkey sandwich that Grace had thrown together for him. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. And on top of that, he felt better after a shower and change of clothes. More human.
All the tension was coming from Winters, who was silently staring at his cell phone as he braced his arms against the kitchen counter.
Across from Nixon, Grace was calmly chopping carrots on a cutting board- making lunch for some other house guests that Lewis had yet to meet. She seemed to be perfectly aware of the intensity of Winters’ silence, but made no move to comment on it.
Lewis was temporarily torn between his desire to ask his new friend what was wrong, or to simply watch the skillful work of Grace’s hands. He eventually turned to Winters. “Dick…what’s going on?”
Winters didn’t startle at Lewis’s question, merely lifted his eyes to look at him and gave him what was likely meant to be a reassuring smile. “Nothing to do with you, Nix. Don’t worry. You’ll be safe here.”
And Nixon was surprised, because the truth was that he hadn’t considered the possibility that his situation could be the cause of Winters’ distress. Although the other man was indeed putting his neck out for him.
“Yeah alright.” Lewis nodded before pressing the issue a bit. “But everything’s not okay with you, is it?”
Dick stared at him before sighing. “No…it’s my brother and my..There’s trouble at home. I’m just waiting on some news. That’s all.”
Finally Grace spoke up, although her eyes stayed on her cooking. “If you need to go Dick? Just go. Family is important I hear. And I know your position in the Company is likely to be suspect already and you’ll need to check in soon. Besides, I can take care of him.”
At this she looked up at Lewis, who couldn’t take his eyes off her soft, almost teasing smile. Dick looked between them for a moment before asking, “But his ability? What will happen to him if I’m not here?”
Lewis frowned as Grace turned her attention to Dick and the two of them began to speak about the nature of his ability and its affect on his mental state as though he were not there. He took an aggravated chomp from his sandwich before growling, “Christ Dick, just go! I haven’t known you that long but even I know that your family means everything to you. I’ll be fine. You’ve done enough for me.”
Winters stared at him with admiration in his colorful eyes. He looked back to Grace, who nodded. With a small smile he walked around the counter and stopped next to Nixon. “Listen Lewis…if you need anything- call me. And let me know you’re okay.”
Nixon nodded, touched into silence as Winters handed him a card with his number on it. Then the man touched him on the shoulder, and was gone.
Lewis watched him go with a sigh before turning back to Grace, who was observing him curiously. “He was your friend?” she asked although it didn’t sound like much of a question.
He shrugged. “Kinda.” When Grace turned her attention back to her work, he asked, “You’ve heard family is important?”
Grace smiled thinly. “I didn’t exactly grow up in one.”
“But you have one now.” He pointed out, thinking back on Robert Sink.
She looked at him with a smile, “That’s true.” She then gestured to an assortment of vegetables next to the sink. “Will you wash those onions for me?”
He shrugged and slid off his stool to complete the task. “Do you like to cook?” he asked her.
Facing away from her he couldn’t see her reaction but could hear the soft ‘mm-hmm’ that she spoke. “It’s relaxing.” She explained, “Which is why I want you to help me do it from now on.”
He turned to face her, the onions in his hands dripping water down to the floor. She turned to relieve him of them and he nervously looked at the knife she left unattended. He realized that he hadn’t moved and she had her hands frozen on the onions in his as she watched him.
“You think I need to relax?” He asked her after a moment.
She huffed out a laugh and pulled away from him, taking the vegetables with her. “Maybe…or maybe I think you just need to learn how to cook.”
Philadelphia, PA
Bill wasn’t sure how to start this conversation that he so desperately needed to have with Babe, but when he walked back into the apartment to see Gene Roe and his brother standing so close that they were breathing each other’s air, his protective older brother instincts started it for him.
He slammed the door violently and the two jumped apart. Bill walked over to Roe and shoved him backwards roughly, “What the HELL are you doing sniffing around my sixteen year old brother?”
Babe groaned in embarrassment despite the seriousness of their current situation. Roe’s eyes widened to a comical size and he peered around Bill to look at Babe. “You’re sixteen?”
The teenager shrugged solemnly and jerked his head to the side, “The fire escape is still an option.”
Despite the queasiness in his stomach, Gene shook his head quickly. “I already told you I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“Damn right you aren’t.” Bill broke in, “Because as long as you’re around he can’t get hurt. But I swear if you so much as look at him funny-”
“BILL!” Babe shouted, “Is this REALLY what you want to talk about? HONESTLY? Because we have some REAL shit to we need to discuss!”
Bill turned to face his brother and nodded before glaring at Roe. He pointed to the couch, “Sit.” He ordered the man, who did so with a frown marring his face. Bill only hoped he could maintain the upper hand on the special. Because if Roe wanted to go wild, for whatever reason, there wasn’t much that Bill could do to stop him. The benefits of being indestructible, he supposed.
Babe sat down too but Bill remained standing and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
Finally he looked at his kid brother and asked, “What do you already know?”
Babe swallowed. “That uh…you’re not really a paper salesman...obviously. That you work for a Company that kidnaps people who can do…special things. Uh…Mom and Dad…did they…?”
“Work for the Company? Yeah.” Bill confirmed what Babe had already been told. “What else?”
“That I’m one of those people. I can do…things although I don’t really understand how. And everything I was told about my real parents was bullshit. How could…” Babe paused in anger for a moment, not sure he could control himself. Finally he pinned Bill with a cold stare. “How could you not tell me that Dick is my brother?”
Bill paused for a moment before answering, “I swear to you Babe. Me and Dick just found out a couple of days ago ourselves. If we told you that, we’d have to tell you a lot of things. Things we were hiding from you in order to keep you safe.”
Babe shook his head, “How can I ever trust you again?”
That got Bill on his knee in front of his brother, grasping his leg the way he had always done when he was reassuring Babe of something. “Everything I have done was so that I could be in a position to keep you safe from this Company. Even kidnapping your friend over there. Which I’m sure he’s told you all about already.”
He hadn’t exactly, but Babe wasn’t sure he had it in him to be surprised anymore. Finally Bill sighed and sat next to Babe on the couch, curling an arm around his shoulders. “I would do anything for you, kid. I love you.”
Babe leaned against him and nodded, “What do we do now?”
“First…you need to tell me where you’ve been getting all your information.” Bill said to him, still shocked by just how much Babe already seemed to know. Who had told him all those things?
But his brother backed away from him quickly. “No I swore to him I wouldn’t tell you. He said you’d kill him. That they would kill him.”
Bill shook his head and placed his hands on Babe’s shoulders. “Anyone helping you is a friend to me. I won’t let them get hurt.”
Babe bit his lip and though he appeared to be giving serious thought to keeping quiet, Bill knew that Babe would tell him. And then they could take the proper steps towards getting Babe the hell out of dodge.
“He said he used to work with you. His name’s Joe Toye.”
The silence in the air hung heavy for a long moment. Bill just stared at his brother in
disbelief.
Joe was alive?
New York City
“Are we the fucking FBI or not?” Speirs groused as they strolled away from the last known address of Roy Cobb. His irritation came with the fact that the man had not been at his first listed address and the two places that they’d tracked previous bills to were now occupied by a woman and a family of four respectively.
“Not.” Lipton muttered to Ron’s earlier question, just to be contrary.
Buck rolled his eyes. “So he went off the grid. Not all that unexpected if you’re going to be going around murdering people.”
Ron frowned, because Buck was right- it wasn’t unexpected. However he knew that both he and Lipton had used their advantage when questioning the current tenants and landlords and they had still walked away without any new information. The only thing the landlords had to say was that Roy Cobb was a quiet and reserved young man. Not the trouble making sort according to them.
Although the mutilated bodies of his victims begged to differ.
Suddenly Lipton stopped short on their way back to Ron’s car. “Wait…didn’t one of the landlords say that Cobb used to repair clocks for a living?”
Buck shook his head, “I don’t remember that.”
Ron knew for a fact that nobody had mentioned it…at least not out loud. It must have been something that Lipton had heard. He couldn’t exactly bring it up in front of Buck though, so Ron helped him out by playing along. “Actually I do remember that. The first landlord said he fixed clocks. Not sure about doing it for a living though. But it’s worth looking into.”
Agent Compton frowned as the two of them climbed into the car. He was a seasoned Agent and he knew exactly what he did and didn’t hear during a questioning where every little detail was important. He didn’t know what Ron and Lipton were playing at, but he was sick of being kept in the dark. When they got to the office they were all going to sit down and have a chat.
Back at the Company’s headquarters, a vision had Eli frantically catching the elevator and running down the hallway towards Dike’s office. Sherry trailed after him, reluctant to be alone.
The child burst through the man’s door, his tiny chest heaving as his short legs had needed to cross three times the distance it’d take most to stroll to Dike’s office. Sherry came up behind him in a jog and stayed close.
Dike was staring at him with a telephone raised halfway to his ear. He lifted an eyebrow at the two children, wondering why Cathy hadn’t been watching them as she had been told to.
Finally Eli took a deep breath. “I had a vision,” he choked out. “About Liebgott.”
That caused Dike to put the phone down. “What exactly did your vision tell you?”
“That Liebgott’s going to come back!” The child informed him hurriedly. “He didn’t betray you and he’s going to convince that guy who took him to bring him back. You can’t hurt him! You’ll need him after what he sees!”
Dike frowned down at the child from behind his desk, “What exactly does he see?”
Deep down, Eli didn’t want to say it, but he knew that if he didn’t go to bat for Liebgott then the man would never be safe from these weird people. And Eli wouldn’t have anyone to help him get back to his Dad, “The future. How everything turns out…that’s where he is now.”
When Dike stood up abruptly Eli instinctively moved in front of Sherry, unable to trust even the tiniest movement that the man made. Dike smiled at the motion, “So afraid. What makes you think I’m going to hurt you? Or, for that matter, that I would ever hurt Liebgott?”
A grim expression came over the young boy’s face that would have been far more at home on someone thrice his age. “You can say whatever you want to me now. But my visions don’t lie.” The boy declared defiantly.
Dike watched in curiosity as Eli stared him down, until movement near his door forced him to look away. Cathy, the young recruit who had been meant to watch the children, was standing there looking embarrassed and behind her stood Dr. Jones, who looked excited as he clutched a folder in his hands.
“We need to talk.” Dr. Jones said over the children's heads with a wave of his file. For such a polite young man he could be very direct when he had just made a breakthrough. Dike immediately moved forward to shoo the others out of his office.
“Mr. Dike I am so sorry-” Cathy began to blabber an apology before Dike raised his hand to silence her.
“Everything’s fine so long as you don’t let them out of your sight from here on out.” He told her sternly. She nodded and began to lead Eli and Sherry away but Dike caught Eli’s shoulder.
The child turned to glare at him heatedly, looking as if he wanted to fight him somehow and for a moment Dike mused over how much the boy was going to turn out like his father. “It was good of you to tell me about your vision Eli. We appreciate that information around here and hope you continue to do so in the future.”
‘Don’t count on it.’ Eli thought to himself darkly as he was released from Dike’s grip. His father had always told him he should be careful who he talked about his visions with and it was time that Eli started listening. From now on, Dike would only know what Eli chose to tell him. Whether it was true or not.
His vision had shown him Liebgott and his boyfriend in the future-trying to get back, and had indeed proved that Dike and these people were capable of hurting him and others. But it also showed him that Liebgott had every intention of betraying them. And if Eli had to tweak his vision to help Liebgott succeed, then that was okay by him.
Because if these people weren’t stopped somehow? The future would be very bad…for all of them.
Dike gestured for Henry to sit as he moved back behind his desk. “Do tell me what is so urgent Dr. Jones?”
Henry practically zipped over to the chair he’d been offered as he buzzed with energy, his previous troubles forgotten and his head no longer aching as thoughts on this new discovery raced through his mind.
“As you’re aware, I’ve been holding on to my father’s original list of research subjects for some time. This is done in spite of the fact that we gave up on any real accuracy in that list. That is until just recently when I performed a simple cross reference and discovered that my father was aware of a special that was not only in our system, but is one whose name is on our lists of potential empaths.” Henry explained in a rush.
“And which name might that be?” Dike wondered.
“Roy Cobb.” Henry answered before continuing quickly, “Now I know that we haven’t had much reason to approach him, after all we haven’t heard any news of him so he wasn’t a high priority but I have reason to believe he may have intentionally gone off the grid.”
“Explain.”
The doctor nodded, “We noticed that in the time before my father’s murder, many of his test subjects that he recorded as having seen use their abilities were also gruesomely killed. It was around that time that Roy Cobb began to move to different traceable addresses before dropping off the grid after my father’s murder. I think he’s trying to hide. Afraid that whoever killed my father and his research subjects is going to come after him as well.”
Dike smiled knowingly, “So you believe that by finding him, not only will you lead us to a potential empath, but you may gain some information about your father’s murder in the process.”
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it, yes.” Henry answered. “Being that I am my father’s son he has no real reason to fear me. The only problem is that he seems to be untraceable.”
“Well it just so happens that we have recently acquired a very accurate method for tracking down just about anyone in the world.” Dike told him as he began to stand.
Henry looked up at him in confusion. “What method exactly?”
“Come and see for yourself.”
Sherry frowned down at the map before her, wanting nothing more than to be back at home with her parents. But that was never going to happen. They were dead and she was stuck
here..wherever here was…and all because she had this stupid gift!
She’d give it up in a heartbeat for just one last moment with her family.
Biting her lip she turned her eyes away from the map on the table and up towards the two men who had given it to her. “The last time I used my ability, someone murdered my parents.” She informed them.
Henry’s stomach dropped as he looked into her sad eyes. He had been informed that a little girl with an ability had been brought in, but with all the commotion of the day he hadn’t been able to meet her. He didn’t know anything about her, except that she was obviously scared.
Dike crouched down in front of her and Henry couldn’t help but noticed that the movement had made little Eli Luz, still in the room, frown. He obviously didn’t trust Dike, or probably Henry for that matter, and it was always disheartening to realize that you’d gained the mistrust of a mature child.
“Sherry this man that we want you to find? He’s a lot like you.” Dike explained to the girl.
“He has an ability and we think someone may be trying to hurt him. We just want to keep him safe.”
That seemed to work on the child as her eyes widened at the thought of someone else getting hurt just because they were different. She nodded her consent. “What’s his name?” she asked.
“His name is Roy Cobb.” Henry spoke up, “Do you really think you can find him?”
Sherry sighed as she picked up a push pin and let her hand hover over the US map. “If he’s alive and on the planet Earth? I can find him.”
That was just what she did, she found people. No matter where they were or how well they could hide, she’d still find them. And there might be a hundred Roy Cobbs nearby but somehow her ability would only find the one it needed to find. It worked better if she had a picture or something that belonged to them, but it wasn’t necessary.
Closing her eyes the young girl’s face took on a look of extreme concentration as her hand began to float across the map. This went on for minutes before she tilted her head, “He’s really close. To here.”
Henry wanted to ask how close, but figured it wouldn’t do to interrupt her. Finally her hand made a decisive clunk and the pin was plopped onto New Jersey. She looked up at them, “He’s in a house about 7 miles from Jersey City. Get me some paper and I’ll write down the address.”
With a smile Henry handed her the small notebook he carried with him. “Thank you Sherry. You’ve been very helpful.”
Dike nodded once she was done writing, “Indeed you have. You’re a very special girl, Sherry.”
For her part, Sherry was just glad that they were now leaving. She watched them go with a frown, only hoping that she had been able to help this mysterious man in a way no one had been
able to help her parents.
“You know they lie right?” The boy in her room, Eli, spoke up. “We don’t know who that guy they are looking for is. But I doubt they wanna help him. They probably just want to kidnap him. Keep him here as prisoners like you and me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Sherry stated.
Eli looked at her funny. “It doesn’t?”
“Officer Lipton found me once, he’ll do it again.” She told him with certainty. “And when he does? They’ll be sorry.”
Now that they were back at FBI headquarters, Buck was ready to get down to the business of locating Roy Cobb, but he knew there were some things he needed to understand first. Shutting the door to Ron and Christenson’s office behind them- he was just about to open his mouth and start demanding answers when Lipton beat him to the punch.
“I know you have questions.” The cop said giving Buck this sad look that made Buck feel bad for hating him. But jealousy was a hard thing to control.
He got over feeling bad fairly quickly and laughed at Lipton’s statement. “Do you now? Well then tell me- what is it that I want to know?”
Lipton sighed before making his detailed response, “You want to know how we knew about Cobb’s clock repair shop. You want to know why Ron brought me here when on paper I appear to be just some L.A street cop that can’t hack it. You want to know why we’re keeping secrets from you and what they are. You want to know why we trust each other when we’ve only met a day ago. You want to know what’s going on with your partner and why Ron’s hasn’t contacted him. You want to know why we’re in Ron’s office and not yours when this is still supposed to be your case, isn’t it?”
At that point Ron jumped in, grabbing Lipton by the elbow, as Buck stared at the cop-speechless. “What the Hell do you think you’re doing?” Ron hissed into Lipton’s ear.
“He wanted to know and you owe him the truth.” Lipton answered as though it were only too obvious.
“I do not owe him-”
“Yes you do.”
“Oh what do you know about it?”
“Everything you’ve THOUGHT about it.”
Ron had pushed his way inside Carwood’s personal space to stare at him intensely but when he opened his mouth to speak, Buck cut him off. “I’m sorry what the HELL is going on?” The blond agent asked in frustration.
He pointed at Lipton, “How did you…I mean everything you said? All those things were this jumbled mess in my head. How did you know?”
Lipton and Speirs locked eyes for a moment before Ron retreated, finally realizing how close they were. He sighed as he turned to address his ex lover. “Buck…you’re going to want to sit down. Also? I’m only going to explain this once and if you give me any shit I WILL shoot you. We have work to do.”
Buck nodded and took a seat. ‘This had better be good,’ he thought to himself.
Joe Toye, Philadelphia, PA
He couldn’t believe this shit. There was no goddamn reason he should agree to meet Babe at the church they’d meant to meet at earlier…but it was dark out and he didn’t want the kid to go wandering off and getting lost.
The damn kid had already gotten under his skin if his presence on the church’s roof was any indication. He had received a rather simple and yet desperate voice message in which Babe made it apparent that he was in trouble and needed Joe’s immediate help.
Finally the door to the roof opened with a clang and Toye looked up and tensed when he realized that the person meeting him was not Babe at all.
He stared at his old partner for a short moment before swiftly pulling out the gun he carried and popping off a shot at the man’s head.
However Bill Guarnere wasn’t a field agent for nothing and he ducked back and used the door as a shield, the bullet hitting the stone wall instead of his skull. “Damn it Joe! Hold it! I just want to talk!” The man hollered even as he crouched down and drew his side arm.
Joe cursed his own stupidity…of course it was a fucking trap. All these years of watching his back and now he was going to get killed because he had been dumb enough to trust Bill Guarnere’s kid brother? Although in the back of his mind he had a feeling that Babe was likely innocent, Joe knew all too well how Bill lied and deceived the people around him.
He chanced a look over the edge of the roof top but knew he’d never survive the fall. He’d been lucky enough to survive his last encounter with Guarnere. Going invisible would only keep him from getting immediately shot but Toye didn’t feel like hiding anymore.
No…the only way he was getting out of here was over Guarnere’s dead body. And Joe figured he could live with that.
Holding his gun steady he slowly began to walk further out of Bill’s direct line of fire. “We don’t have anything to talk about man!”
Behind the metal door Bill shook his head with a grimace. “You know that’s not true!”
“Fine asshole.” Joe hollered, “You wanna talk to me? Toss the gun and get out in the open. Hands where I can see them.”
Bill cursed but couldn’t really fault Joe’s paranoia. Here he was just getting used to the fact that Joe was alive. When he had shot him all those years ago, Bill had assumed he had fallen into the body of water below the bridge they’d been standing on. There had blood on the safety railing and he had heard a splash. But he hadn’t the heart to investigate further and had come to accept as fact that he had killed Joe.
Now faced with the opportunity to speak to him again face to face…it was something Bill couldn’t pass up. Even if he hadn’t needed the man’s help. So, even though it was against his training and his instincts, Bill slid his gun out across the church ceiling and abandoned his cover behind the door. Walking out into the open hands first, he was now at Joe’s mercy.
And there he was…Joe. His…well nothing of his…not for a long time. But Bill couldn’t help but always think of him like that. He looked better than Bill had expected him to. Though he was thin and pale and obviously tired he actually appeared younger to Bill. As if he hadn’t aged because Bill had no memory of him aging.
Joe was just looking at him in shock, obviously not having anticipated this turn of events.
Bill kept his hands up, “You know…after all this shit I did to you…it’s kind of funny that the only insult you can come up with is to call me an asshole.” Shit was he actually trying to tease Joe again?
The shock on Joe’s face morphed into anger, “Don’t worry I’ll come up with something better.” He replied coldly. “Now I’ll be nice and give you a whole minute to explain why I shouldn’t do you the same courtesy you did me.”
Bill knew exactly what courtesy he was referring to and didn’t doubt Joe’s sincerity. He started to talk. “I know you’ve been helping Babe. And I’m grateful. You were right. About me, about the Company, all of it. Maybe I didn’t realize it then but I do now. Nothing can make up for what I did to you-”
“That’s for damn sure.” Joe interrupted with a heated glare.
With a tilt of his head Bill accepted his anger before continuing. “But now? We want the same thing. To keep Babe safe. The Company found him out and they’re onto both of us in a big way. They have it figured that he’s an empath. I don’t bring him in so they can confirm it I get made as a traitor and I won’t be able to help anyone.”
Bill could see that Joe was coming around, and no beef with Bill would ever stop Joe from wanting to help others. It was just who he was. Time couldn’t change that.
“And how did you find out about him?” Joe asked.
“My parents…they found out. They witnessed him hovering in the air above his bed about a year ago. Turns out they had been exposing people with abilities to him. He’s on some list of specials and potentials that might have what they call a comprehensive ability. All these peoples with abilities that result in being able to do more than one thing. I don’t know who else is on it but until then they had never seen him do anything before. But his birth mother could fly too…then he started having visions. They put it together pretty quick.”
“How’d you keep them from talking?”
Bill gave him a hard stare. “Dead people don’t have much to talk about.” He answered.
Joe whistled at that. “That’s cold even for you. You killed your own fucking parents?”
“I made my choices.” Bill told him. “I chose my real family. That was always Babe.
Anyways I noticed you haven’t shot me yet.”
At that Joe snorted, “I’m weighing my options.”
Bill nodded, “How did you find out about him?”
“You wouldn’t believe it.” Joe replied, thinking back on Renee’s letters, wondering about the future she had hinted at and how Babe tied into it all. Finally he realized that he had already made his choice, and Guarnere was right…they wanted the same things. To keep Babe out of the Company’s reach.
He looked at his old partner and lowered his weapon slowly. “So how do you expect me to help you?”
“I’ve got an idea or two.”
Continue to Part 2