Special (16/20) Part 2
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.
Babe and Gene had wound up sitting across from one another in the hallway outside of Babe’s bedroom, waiting for Bill to return and not wanting to leave each other’s sights. The day’s events were taking their toll and they were both exhausted. How could one day feel like a lifetime?
Gene was more conflicted than he’d ever felt. He couldn’t fathom leaving Babe since meeting up with him again had felt like fate. But at the same time he was kicking himself for not being able to diffuse his feelings upon discovering that Babe was only sixteen.
Not to mention that he needed to find out where Luz and Christenson had been taken. He wouldn’t assume the worst just now, but nothing this Company did was good. Although he was especially worried about Christenson. The man didn’t have a power so what use was he to these people? But surely they wouldn’t kill a Federal agent? He supposed it didn’t matter anyway since he had no idea where they were or how to help them…not yet at least. And of course Guarnere had made it clear that if Gene valued his life, he would remain at the apartment with Babe.
But Gene had no intention of giving up on his friends and he wasn’t going to do anything he didn’t want to unless Guarnere assured their safety. Luckily for them both, he wanted to be here with Babe. Babe who was talking about nothing, who looked sleepy and soft to the touch and who was fucking sixteen.
He decided to talk in order to turn his thoughts away from where they were headed. “I know that you said you could do things...but I still don’t think I understand exactly what it is those things are.”
Babe quieted and looked at him as if he’d forgotten that Gene could speak. He shrugged,
“Apparently I can just do…whatever other people can do. Like if I meet them, then I can do what they can do.”
“I can heal…so you can heal now too? Do I need to be with you for you to do that?” Gene asked in honest confusion.
Eyelids fluttering to a close Babe gave another shrug. “I dunno really. Maybe.”
Gene smiled as the teen let out a yawn. “You oughta get some sleep.” He nodded to the door that led to Babe’s bedroom. “It’s been a long day.”
Babe opened his eyes to regard him, “Where are you going to sleep?”
“The couch? I dunno. I’m not even sure if I can sleep.” Gene answered.
“You could always sleep in my room.” Babe offered with a sly smile.
Gene laughed and let his head thunk back on the wall behind him. “That’s…not a good idea.”
Babe huffed. “Why not?”
“You know why not.”
With a frown the teenager slid across the hall to sit next to Gene. “Then I’ll stay out here with you.”
The doctor watched as Babe scooted up next to him against the wall. “I may just be too tired to stop you.”
Babe laid his head against Gene’s shoulder and Gene hooked their arms together against his better judgment. “Sure you are.” Babe joked. “That’s what we’ll tell my brother if he catches us.”
Gene shook his head before relaxing against Babe. He might not be able to get hurt, but Babe was going to be the death of him.
Ronald Speirs and Carwood Lipton, New York City
“You know I could have stayed at a hotel, right?” Lipton called over his shoulder to Speirs who was rummaging around in his bedroom.
“Wouldn’t hear of it!” Was the shouted reply he received.
After a rather confusing explanation to Agent Compton on just what he had been kept in the dark about, the man had seem convinced- likely due to the fact that Carwood had read and proceeded to read his mind to prove they were being honest with him. Instead of going to locate Cobb’s business as they had planned, Compton insisted he needed time to wrap his head around all of this. Ron told him not to reveal this new information to anyone and if Ron told him not to, then he simply wasn’t going to. Whether that was what he wanted or not.
It was late and Carwood had asked about hotels only to have Ron decide that he should stay at his place instead.
Speaking of which, Ron was currently in his room kicking all Lewis related things into a closet. Partially so that Lipton wouldn’t see them and partially to remind himself to set them on fire later. He winced as he pulled a stitch on his shoulder- another reminder of Lewis.
He found a bottle of extra strength Tylenol and took a few before he headed out to see how Lipton was feeling. As well as how he was faring with the sleeper sofa. They had a guest room but the furniture was getting refurnished. He had tried to get Lipton to take his bed, but had been swiftly overruled. And it had been insinuated that should Ron try to subtly influence Carwood to agree that there would be consequences later. Ron could admit when he’d been defeated.
Walking back out to his living room with the bottle of Tylenol, Ron almost ran into his door frame. Lipton was no longer fussing over the sofa, and he was no longer in his street clothes. Instead he was in what Ron assumed was his usual sleep wear which appeared to be boxer shorts and a wife beater.
He stared stupidly for a moment because, damn, if men like Lipton weren’t the reason those shirts had been invented in the first place. Who knew he was so well built? It was a crime to hide that body underneath a uni.
Lipton frowned when he saw him just standing there. “Are you alright?” he asked.
‘Yeah sorry I got distracted by your arm muscles’, was the first unfortunate thought to pop into Ron’s head. Shit! Not only had he promised himself he wouldn’t think about the cop like that, but said cop was a goddamn mind reader.
“Uh yeah. Ahem. Yeah. Almost pulled a stitch is all. How are you feeling by the way?” Ron asked, aware that Lipton would likely still be feeling the pain of nearly being frozen to death.
“Alright I guess. You sure you don’t still need a doctor?”
“If you don’t I don’t.” Ron decided before pointing down the hall, “The guest bathroom’s on the left. We need to be back at the office by 7:30 and don’t forget to report to your superiors.”
“I thought you were supposed to be my superior?” Lipton joked with a smile.
Ron laughed. “Maybe but I can’t imagine you ever reporting to me. Night Lipton.”
“Goodnight, sir.”
New Jersey
He had come to the end of his list. There were no more names. No more abilities. No more ANYTHING! What the fuck was he supposed to do now? There was still the need to know. The desire to take everything that he had always deserved but hadn’t quite been born with.
With a grimace, Roy Cobb picked up a jar filled with a homemade embalming fluid and flung it against the wall. The stench that filled the room was strong and revolting but somehow managed to calm his rage. He had been keeping the brains of all those he had killed in a room below his home. In near perfect condition until he had the chance to study them.
By looking into the brains he could see what made them all special. He could understand how they did it…and then he could do it too. That was his gift…to understand how things worked. But it came with a downside.
The hunger for more. More powers, more understanding- it raged within him until there was nothing else he could do but take. And kill. He didn’t use to. He used to be…
Roy ran his hands through his hair with a strangled cry before navigating through his dark basement to a closet he kept padlocked. Too frustrated to bother with the keys he ripped the door open with his mind. Telekinesis- the ability to move objects with his mind- was the first ability he had ever taken. It was how he had discovered that he could essentially adopt the abilities of those whose brains he studied.
He entered the closet and telekinetically pulled the door shut. All around him on the walls were pictures and obituaries of the people he’d murdered. His desperate pleas for forgiveness and mercy scratched into the walls with his fingernails. This life wasn’t what he had wanted.
All he had wanted was to be special. When he had met Dr. Jones the man had insisted he was. But then Roy couldn’t prove it. All he could do was fix clocks at his father’s shop-that was his only talent. And Dr. Jones had been so disappointed- so quick to write him off as undeserving and worthless. All Roy wanted to know was what it was like to be special.
He had met one of Dr. Jones potential subjects. A man named David who could move things with his mind. It was the most extraordinary thing that Roy had ever seen. But David…had been so furious with it. All he wanted from Dr. Jones, he had told Roy, was to make it go away. So Roy did him a favor.
It wasn’t until he could smell the body that he’d realized what he’d done. He had blacked out when he had smashed the man’s head in with a nearby paper weight. He had been beyond horrified. In his whole life he had never even been in a fight.
Then he had seen the crack in the man’s skull, he could see the brain. And the hunger had started. He had to know….
Once he’d had that ability he became valuable again to the good Doctor. That was when the hate had begun in earnest. If you weren’t special than you were nothing apparently. But for whatever reason he had craved the man’s approval. He’d never had the approval of his own father and for whatever reason this man had sought him out, opened up a new world of possibilities to him. So he had played along.
But the hunger came back and every special he met through Dr. Jones met the same fate as David had. It wasn’t long before the Doctor was on to Roy. But Roy had made an observation of his own.
Jones was special too. He seemed to know exactly who did or didn’t have an ability and how strong it could be, could sense how close they were. Roy had realized early on that this was the case, but had resisted taking the one ability that could help him increase his power with ease because he had fooled himself into thinking that Dr. Jones was his friend, his mentor.
The two had a confrontation and when the hunger came over Roy, he didn’t try to control it. Now he could do what Dr. Jones could do. But it wasn’t as helpful as he had hoped. It was a vague and unreliable ability. He could tell when someone with an ability was, or had been, nearby but he didn’t know what the ability was. He saw possible abilities in many people but some were false alarms, people who could have one but had never developed them.
That had been the problem with Sherry Tanner. He had seen possible abilities in her parents. It was why they had died. He had gotten the address from a list Dr. Jones kept in a safe in his apartment. However all of his computerized research had been too heavily encrypted for Roy to get to. But deep down the man was old school enough to keep hard copies of much of his research. Most of the people were in California and New York. The two places the man had split most of his time.
But now…there were no more names. Only Joseph Liebgott, Sherry Tanner and George Luz had been on that list and kept their lives.
Roy took one sad look at the obituary of Dr. Jones. In here…in this room he was again his old self. If only for a few moments. He felt remorse, he felt weakness and fear. He felt human.
It was pathetic.
The look turned hard and he pushed his way out of the guilt ridden space. There wasn’t nothing left to do but go after those who’d escaped him. He would get their abilities…then he would find more. He had no other choice.
Henry stood outside in the crisp morning air, nervous and uncertain about what to say to the man on the other side of the door he was standing in front of. Thanks to Sherry Tanner, there was no doubt that Roy Cobb was here. But Henry had so many of his hopes invested in the man. What if he knew something about his father’s murder? Why else would he go into hiding?
After all of this time would Henry finally be able to find closure?
He lifted his hand and knocked.
Philadelphia, PA
When Burton finally came to his head was pounding the way it used to after a frat party back in college. He groaned and shifted to his left, only to have his cheek brush up against the cotton of someone’s shirt. Blinking his eyes open he looked up to see Luz staring sleepily back down at him.
“Morning. Our plan failed.” He was promptly informed.
Christenson pulled his head off of Luz’s lap and sat up with a wince. The other man was slumped against the wall of what looked to be a small cell, the two of them crammed together on a cot.
“Yeah no shit.” He replied before asking the obvious question. “Where are we?”
Luz shrugged. “Not really sure. But we’re still in Philadelphia. They shoved us into the back of an SUV, then cuffed and blindfolded me. But I figured out the distance and destination from the car’s GPS system.”
“You…talked…to the car’s GPS?”
“I don’t really know.” Luz sighed. “What does it matter? We’re locked up and I’ve got no idea how the Hell I’m supposed to find Eli. What if he’s in a jail cell too? I swear when we get out of here I’m going to kill the bastards that took him.”
Burton sighed, “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
George gave him a pointed look. “You’re saying you wouldn’t take a shot at these guys if you got the opportunity?”
Just as Burton was about to reply that he had to fill out paperwork when he killed people, the large metal door to their cell began to open.
Luz jumped up swiftly only to sway on his feet, forgetting that he shouldn’t be aggravating his head wound. Christenson forced him to sit back down, “Look just keep your mouth shut for now okay? The best thing you can do for Eli is to stay alive.”
Holding his head in his hands Luz glared up at the FBI Agent who had moved to stand in front of him.
The first people through the door were presumably guards, and they were armed to the teeth. Burton didn’t recognize half the weapons they had strapped to their bulletproof vests. Probably because they weren’t weapons used on the average citizen.
Keeping their weapons trained on the two men, the guards waved another man into the room. A tall, slim red head in wrinkled business attire. Upon seeing him, Luz flew into a rage.
“You SON OF A BITCH! Where’s my son!? The hospital security saw you take him you fucking scum!” The shouting continued as the man waved at the two guards to stand down and allowed Luz to approach him, a sad look in his eyes.
“WHERE IS HE!?” George shouted, now directly in the man’s breathing space.
The red head sighed. “Your son is safe.” Was all he said before lightly placing his hand on Luz’s bandaged forehead and causing the man to crumple to the floor.
“Hey!” Burton shouted and lunged forward, but was stopped dead as a guard blocked his path. The mysterious man turned to look at him.
“Don’t be alarmed, he’s only asleep. You are coming with me.”
When the two guards roughly grabbed him by the arms and began to march him forward- Burton figured he didn’t have much of a choice.
“I don’t understand…you’re sending me away?”
Bill sighed as he pulled his car off the road and waited. It was as lonely a road as they could find to meet up.
That morning he had simply woken Babe (who he’d found sleeping in the hallway with Roe) and told him to pack enough clothes and things for a one week trip. Then the three of them had driven out to an empty street nearly 30 minutes from their apartment. He hadn’t given any more of an explanation.
Turning to face his little brother, he sighed before looking over to Roe instead. “Can you give us a minute?” he asked.
Bill was pleased to see that Roe, for his part, looked unsure. He had heard the other man’s claim not to leave Babe’s side and was glad to see the truth of it. “Just a minute. Please?”
Noting the sincerity of his plea, Roe reluctantly nodded and cast Babe an undecipherable look before getting out of the car.
Babe turned to Bill expectantly, “Why is this happening?”
“Because the best thing for you is to get as far away from me and Dick as possible.” Bill told him.
“What are you talking about? You guys are my family! And what about school? What am I supposed to do? What does your boss even want me for? I don’t understand!”
“I know you don’t!” Bill snapped, causing Babe to fall silent. “I’m sorry…it’s just…Babe everything I’ve done for the past- God I don’t even know how long…has been done so that when you realized how special you were, you’d be safe. Me and Dick are too deep in this organization to do anything but endanger you right now. But Dick knows somewhere you can be safe, okay? And I know someone who I can actually trust with you. This is the only way to keep them away from you. I need you to trust me.”
Babe just stared at him in resignation. “What are you guys going to do?”
“We’re going to make sure there’s no Company left to chase after you.”
With his hands cuffed to the seat in front of him and no blind fold on, Burton was beyond worried. If they didn’t care what he saw-it had to be for a reason.
The guards had hustled him into an SUV that looked like it could be any unmarked government vehicle and cuffed him to a metal bar located on the seat before him. He’d been advised to remain silent, as none of his questions would yield an answer, before the red headed man had gotten into the driver’s seat and began to drive into increasingly unpleasant surroundings.
Finally the car began to pull into an abandoned street and Burton could no longer keep silent. “You can’t just make FBI Agents disappear.”
The man simply turned another empty corner. “I’m not going to make you disappear.”
Burton swallowed. Great- he was just going to kill him then. “What did you do to Luz?”
“I already told you. I made him fall asleep.”
The car began to slow down and the driver looked around. “Look,” Christenson grit his teeth and growled out, “if you’re going to kill me then what does it matter if you answer my questions?”
The SUV stopped behind another car and Christenson gaped as he recognized the man standing beside it.
It was Eugene Roe.
The red head turned around to face him, a set of keys in his hands. “I’m not going to kill you.” He informed him as he set to work on Burton’s cuffs. “In fact- you and I are going to help each other.”
Gene was immediately on guard when another vehicle came driving down the road and stopped directly behind them. But soon Guarnere was stepping out of the car, not looking the least bit alarmed and Gene assumed that this was all part of his plan.
The driver of the other vehicle was a tall red head who went to open the back door but was stopped when Babe came rushing out of the car and heading straight towards him.
The teenager collided with the man, wrapping his arms around him tightly. “Dick- I know now. I know everything.”
Dick recovered from his initial shock before he returned the hug, pulling Babe close to his chest and closing his eyes. They stayed that way for a few moments before Dick straightened back up and looked over Babe’s head.
He locked eyes with Bill, who gave him a small smile. With a shaky laugh Dick touched his hand to Babe’s head and Babe reluctantly let go of his brother to stare up at him.
Drinking in the sight of him for a moment Dick put a hand on Babe’s shoulder. “We’re going to get you somewhere safe okay?”
“It’s not fair- I just found out that you’re my brother and now we can’t be together?”
Dick sighed, “None of this is fair, I know. Not to people like you and me, not to our parents, but that’s how it’s always going to be unless someone changes things.”
Babe’s eyes got a far off look at the mention of their parents and Dick knew he had questions…but there was just no time.
“Why does it have to be you guys though?” Babe asked. “Why do you have to change things?”
Bill cleared his throat and the two turned to face him. “Because we have you. Because we’re a family and the Company won’t rest until they tear us apart. It’s the only way we can ever live in peace.”
They all remained silent for a moment before a loud thumping noise came from the back seat of the SUV. Dick moved away from Babe and opened the door, which Bill knew could only be opened from the outside.
“Christenson!?” Gene remarked in shock upon seeing that the FBI agent was not in as dire straits as he’d feared. “What’s going on? Where is Luz?”
“Luz is locked up in some jail cell and I have no idea what the Hell is going on.” The man informed Gene as he rubbed his sore wrists. “You probably no more than I do.”
Bill motioned them to the car. “I’m not going to be the one to explain just yet. I want you three in the back seat. Now. Me and Dick have to take care of something real quick.”
Gene ushered Babe back into the car and Christenson followed reluctantly. “What’s happening exactly?”
The doctor shrugged, “I’ll try for a simple and not entirely accurate explanation. They work for the bad guys-but only to protect their brother. Now they’re sending him and apparently me somewhere to lay low while they go rogue and try to take these people down.”
Christenson gaped, “What- just the two of them?”
“I guess so.”
The Agent shook his head and slid into the car. “Fucking crazy.” He muttered along the way.
Bill popped the trunk of his car and began to pull out everything they’d need to dispose of the Company SUV that Dick had traveled in.
“How suspicious were they?” he asked his partner.
“Not the least bit it seemed.” Dick answered. “I told them that Lewis Nixon had broken out of his holding facility and made the staff there think that’s what happened. Sobel threw a fit of course, but just told me to come back because he had a problem he needed taken care of.”
“Wiping the fed’s mind?” Bill guessed, handing Dick a gallon of gasoline.
Dick nodded, “You guessed it. They wanted to make him forget all about George and Eli Luz and anything else he’d discovered. But if we want to take the Company down he’s a useful ally.”
“We can’t get the FBI directly involved without exposing the existence of specials.”
The other man smirked as he began to pour gasoline over the SUV. “I was thinking more along the lines of ‘an extra person’ useful. We have no real game plan.”
Bill sighed heavily, “Don’t I know it.”
“You’ve always been the man with the plan. This must be frustrating for you.”
“We’ve pulled a few Hail Mary’s you and me.” Bill grinned at him. “This’ll be a piece of cake.”
Dick laughed softly before stopping his work of committing arson to stare at Bill fondly. “I wanted to talk about something with you. Before we lose the chance.”
But Bill shook his head and pulled out a box of matches. “What’s there to talk about? I love you. You love me. Now we’re going to go and kick the ass of anyone who tries to split up our family. You in?”
Dick dropped the gasoline and walked over to the car, waiting for Bill to set the SUV on fire. When he had done so and made his way back to the driver’s side, he and Dick ignored the heat of the flames for a moment to gaze at one another over the roof of Bill’s car.
Finally Dick nodded. “Yeah. I’m in.”
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.
Babe and Gene had wound up sitting across from one another in the hallway outside of Babe’s bedroom, waiting for Bill to return and not wanting to leave each other’s sights. The day’s events were taking their toll and they were both exhausted. How could one day feel like a lifetime?
Gene was more conflicted than he’d ever felt. He couldn’t fathom leaving Babe since meeting up with him again had felt like fate. But at the same time he was kicking himself for not being able to diffuse his feelings upon discovering that Babe was only sixteen.
Not to mention that he needed to find out where Luz and Christenson had been taken. He wouldn’t assume the worst just now, but nothing this Company did was good. Although he was especially worried about Christenson. The man didn’t have a power so what use was he to these people? But surely they wouldn’t kill a Federal agent? He supposed it didn’t matter anyway since he had no idea where they were or how to help them…not yet at least. And of course Guarnere had made it clear that if Gene valued his life, he would remain at the apartment with Babe.
But Gene had no intention of giving up on his friends and he wasn’t going to do anything he didn’t want to unless Guarnere assured their safety. Luckily for them both, he wanted to be here with Babe. Babe who was talking about nothing, who looked sleepy and soft to the touch and who was fucking sixteen.
He decided to talk in order to turn his thoughts away from where they were headed. “I know that you said you could do things...but I still don’t think I understand exactly what it is those things are.”
Babe quieted and looked at him as if he’d forgotten that Gene could speak. He shrugged,
“Apparently I can just do…whatever other people can do. Like if I meet them, then I can do what they can do.”
“I can heal…so you can heal now too? Do I need to be with you for you to do that?” Gene asked in honest confusion.
Eyelids fluttering to a close Babe gave another shrug. “I dunno really. Maybe.”
Gene smiled as the teen let out a yawn. “You oughta get some sleep.” He nodded to the door that led to Babe’s bedroom. “It’s been a long day.”
Babe opened his eyes to regard him, “Where are you going to sleep?”
“The couch? I dunno. I’m not even sure if I can sleep.” Gene answered.
“You could always sleep in my room.” Babe offered with a sly smile.
Gene laughed and let his head thunk back on the wall behind him. “That’s…not a good idea.”
Babe huffed. “Why not?”
“You know why not.”
With a frown the teenager slid across the hall to sit next to Gene. “Then I’ll stay out here with you.”
The doctor watched as Babe scooted up next to him against the wall. “I may just be too tired to stop you.”
Babe laid his head against Gene’s shoulder and Gene hooked their arms together against his better judgment. “Sure you are.” Babe joked. “That’s what we’ll tell my brother if he catches us.”
Gene shook his head before relaxing against Babe. He might not be able to get hurt, but Babe was going to be the death of him.
Ronald Speirs and Carwood Lipton, New York City
“You know I could have stayed at a hotel, right?” Lipton called over his shoulder to Speirs who was rummaging around in his bedroom.
“Wouldn’t hear of it!” Was the shouted reply he received.
After a rather confusing explanation to Agent Compton on just what he had been kept in the dark about, the man had seem convinced- likely due to the fact that Carwood had read and proceeded to read his mind to prove they were being honest with him. Instead of going to locate Cobb’s business as they had planned, Compton insisted he needed time to wrap his head around all of this. Ron told him not to reveal this new information to anyone and if Ron told him not to, then he simply wasn’t going to. Whether that was what he wanted or not.
It was late and Carwood had asked about hotels only to have Ron decide that he should stay at his place instead.
Speaking of which, Ron was currently in his room kicking all Lewis related things into a closet. Partially so that Lipton wouldn’t see them and partially to remind himself to set them on fire later. He winced as he pulled a stitch on his shoulder- another reminder of Lewis.
He found a bottle of extra strength Tylenol and took a few before he headed out to see how Lipton was feeling. As well as how he was faring with the sleeper sofa. They had a guest room but the furniture was getting refurnished. He had tried to get Lipton to take his bed, but had been swiftly overruled. And it had been insinuated that should Ron try to subtly influence Carwood to agree that there would be consequences later. Ron could admit when he’d been defeated.
Walking back out to his living room with the bottle of Tylenol, Ron almost ran into his door frame. Lipton was no longer fussing over the sofa, and he was no longer in his street clothes. Instead he was in what Ron assumed was his usual sleep wear which appeared to be boxer shorts and a wife beater.
He stared stupidly for a moment because, damn, if men like Lipton weren’t the reason those shirts had been invented in the first place. Who knew he was so well built? It was a crime to hide that body underneath a uni.
Lipton frowned when he saw him just standing there. “Are you alright?” he asked.
‘Yeah sorry I got distracted by your arm muscles’, was the first unfortunate thought to pop into Ron’s head. Shit! Not only had he promised himself he wouldn’t think about the cop like that, but said cop was a goddamn mind reader.
“Uh yeah. Ahem. Yeah. Almost pulled a stitch is all. How are you feeling by the way?” Ron asked, aware that Lipton would likely still be feeling the pain of nearly being frozen to death.
“Alright I guess. You sure you don’t still need a doctor?”
“If you don’t I don’t.” Ron decided before pointing down the hall, “The guest bathroom’s on the left. We need to be back at the office by 7:30 and don’t forget to report to your superiors.”
“I thought you were supposed to be my superior?” Lipton joked with a smile.
Ron laughed. “Maybe but I can’t imagine you ever reporting to me. Night Lipton.”
“Goodnight, sir.”
New Jersey
He had come to the end of his list. There were no more names. No more abilities. No more ANYTHING! What the fuck was he supposed to do now? There was still the need to know. The desire to take everything that he had always deserved but hadn’t quite been born with.
With a grimace, Roy Cobb picked up a jar filled with a homemade embalming fluid and flung it against the wall. The stench that filled the room was strong and revolting but somehow managed to calm his rage. He had been keeping the brains of all those he had killed in a room below his home. In near perfect condition until he had the chance to study them.
By looking into the brains he could see what made them all special. He could understand how they did it…and then he could do it too. That was his gift…to understand how things worked. But it came with a downside.
The hunger for more. More powers, more understanding- it raged within him until there was nothing else he could do but take. And kill. He didn’t use to. He used to be…
Roy ran his hands through his hair with a strangled cry before navigating through his dark basement to a closet he kept padlocked. Too frustrated to bother with the keys he ripped the door open with his mind. Telekinesis- the ability to move objects with his mind- was the first ability he had ever taken. It was how he had discovered that he could essentially adopt the abilities of those whose brains he studied.
He entered the closet and telekinetically pulled the door shut. All around him on the walls were pictures and obituaries of the people he’d murdered. His desperate pleas for forgiveness and mercy scratched into the walls with his fingernails. This life wasn’t what he had wanted.
All he had wanted was to be special. When he had met Dr. Jones the man had insisted he was. But then Roy couldn’t prove it. All he could do was fix clocks at his father’s shop-that was his only talent. And Dr. Jones had been so disappointed- so quick to write him off as undeserving and worthless. All Roy wanted to know was what it was like to be special.
He had met one of Dr. Jones potential subjects. A man named David who could move things with his mind. It was the most extraordinary thing that Roy had ever seen. But David…had been so furious with it. All he wanted from Dr. Jones, he had told Roy, was to make it go away. So Roy did him a favor.
It wasn’t until he could smell the body that he’d realized what he’d done. He had blacked out when he had smashed the man’s head in with a nearby paper weight. He had been beyond horrified. In his whole life he had never even been in a fight.
Then he had seen the crack in the man’s skull, he could see the brain. And the hunger had started. He had to know….
Once he’d had that ability he became valuable again to the good Doctor. That was when the hate had begun in earnest. If you weren’t special than you were nothing apparently. But for whatever reason he had craved the man’s approval. He’d never had the approval of his own father and for whatever reason this man had sought him out, opened up a new world of possibilities to him. So he had played along.
But the hunger came back and every special he met through Dr. Jones met the same fate as David had. It wasn’t long before the Doctor was on to Roy. But Roy had made an observation of his own.
Jones was special too. He seemed to know exactly who did or didn’t have an ability and how strong it could be, could sense how close they were. Roy had realized early on that this was the case, but had resisted taking the one ability that could help him increase his power with ease because he had fooled himself into thinking that Dr. Jones was his friend, his mentor.
The two had a confrontation and when the hunger came over Roy, he didn’t try to control it. Now he could do what Dr. Jones could do. But it wasn’t as helpful as he had hoped. It was a vague and unreliable ability. He could tell when someone with an ability was, or had been, nearby but he didn’t know what the ability was. He saw possible abilities in many people but some were false alarms, people who could have one but had never developed them.
That had been the problem with Sherry Tanner. He had seen possible abilities in her parents. It was why they had died. He had gotten the address from a list Dr. Jones kept in a safe in his apartment. However all of his computerized research had been too heavily encrypted for Roy to get to. But deep down the man was old school enough to keep hard copies of much of his research. Most of the people were in California and New York. The two places the man had split most of his time.
But now…there were no more names. Only Joseph Liebgott, Sherry Tanner and George Luz had been on that list and kept their lives.
Roy took one sad look at the obituary of Dr. Jones. In here…in this room he was again his old self. If only for a few moments. He felt remorse, he felt weakness and fear. He felt human.
It was pathetic.
The look turned hard and he pushed his way out of the guilt ridden space. There wasn’t nothing left to do but go after those who’d escaped him. He would get their abilities…then he would find more. He had no other choice.
Henry stood outside in the crisp morning air, nervous and uncertain about what to say to the man on the other side of the door he was standing in front of. Thanks to Sherry Tanner, there was no doubt that Roy Cobb was here. But Henry had so many of his hopes invested in the man. What if he knew something about his father’s murder? Why else would he go into hiding?
After all of this time would Henry finally be able to find closure?
He lifted his hand and knocked.
Philadelphia, PA
When Burton finally came to his head was pounding the way it used to after a frat party back in college. He groaned and shifted to his left, only to have his cheek brush up against the cotton of someone’s shirt. Blinking his eyes open he looked up to see Luz staring sleepily back down at him.
“Morning. Our plan failed.” He was promptly informed.
Christenson pulled his head off of Luz’s lap and sat up with a wince. The other man was slumped against the wall of what looked to be a small cell, the two of them crammed together on a cot.
“Yeah no shit.” He replied before asking the obvious question. “Where are we?”
Luz shrugged. “Not really sure. But we’re still in Philadelphia. They shoved us into the back of an SUV, then cuffed and blindfolded me. But I figured out the distance and destination from the car’s GPS system.”
“You…talked…to the car’s GPS?”
“I don’t really know.” Luz sighed. “What does it matter? We’re locked up and I’ve got no idea how the Hell I’m supposed to find Eli. What if he’s in a jail cell too? I swear when we get out of here I’m going to kill the bastards that took him.”
Burton sighed, “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
George gave him a pointed look. “You’re saying you wouldn’t take a shot at these guys if you got the opportunity?”
Just as Burton was about to reply that he had to fill out paperwork when he killed people, the large metal door to their cell began to open.
Luz jumped up swiftly only to sway on his feet, forgetting that he shouldn’t be aggravating his head wound. Christenson forced him to sit back down, “Look just keep your mouth shut for now okay? The best thing you can do for Eli is to stay alive.”
Holding his head in his hands Luz glared up at the FBI Agent who had moved to stand in front of him.
The first people through the door were presumably guards, and they were armed to the teeth. Burton didn’t recognize half the weapons they had strapped to their bulletproof vests. Probably because they weren’t weapons used on the average citizen.
Keeping their weapons trained on the two men, the guards waved another man into the room. A tall, slim red head in wrinkled business attire. Upon seeing him, Luz flew into a rage.
“You SON OF A BITCH! Where’s my son!? The hospital security saw you take him you fucking scum!” The shouting continued as the man waved at the two guards to stand down and allowed Luz to approach him, a sad look in his eyes.
“WHERE IS HE!?” George shouted, now directly in the man’s breathing space.
The red head sighed. “Your son is safe.” Was all he said before lightly placing his hand on Luz’s bandaged forehead and causing the man to crumple to the floor.
“Hey!” Burton shouted and lunged forward, but was stopped dead as a guard blocked his path. The mysterious man turned to look at him.
“Don’t be alarmed, he’s only asleep. You are coming with me.”
When the two guards roughly grabbed him by the arms and began to march him forward- Burton figured he didn’t have much of a choice.
“I don’t understand…you’re sending me away?”
Bill sighed as he pulled his car off the road and waited. It was as lonely a road as they could find to meet up.
That morning he had simply woken Babe (who he’d found sleeping in the hallway with Roe) and told him to pack enough clothes and things for a one week trip. Then the three of them had driven out to an empty street nearly 30 minutes from their apartment. He hadn’t given any more of an explanation.
Turning to face his little brother, he sighed before looking over to Roe instead. “Can you give us a minute?” he asked.
Bill was pleased to see that Roe, for his part, looked unsure. He had heard the other man’s claim not to leave Babe’s side and was glad to see the truth of it. “Just a minute. Please?”
Noting the sincerity of his plea, Roe reluctantly nodded and cast Babe an undecipherable look before getting out of the car.
Babe turned to Bill expectantly, “Why is this happening?”
“Because the best thing for you is to get as far away from me and Dick as possible.” Bill told him.
“What are you talking about? You guys are my family! And what about school? What am I supposed to do? What does your boss even want me for? I don’t understand!”
“I know you don’t!” Bill snapped, causing Babe to fall silent. “I’m sorry…it’s just…Babe everything I’ve done for the past- God I don’t even know how long…has been done so that when you realized how special you were, you’d be safe. Me and Dick are too deep in this organization to do anything but endanger you right now. But Dick knows somewhere you can be safe, okay? And I know someone who I can actually trust with you. This is the only way to keep them away from you. I need you to trust me.”
Babe just stared at him in resignation. “What are you guys going to do?”
“We’re going to make sure there’s no Company left to chase after you.”
With his hands cuffed to the seat in front of him and no blind fold on, Burton was beyond worried. If they didn’t care what he saw-it had to be for a reason.
The guards had hustled him into an SUV that looked like it could be any unmarked government vehicle and cuffed him to a metal bar located on the seat before him. He’d been advised to remain silent, as none of his questions would yield an answer, before the red headed man had gotten into the driver’s seat and began to drive into increasingly unpleasant surroundings.
Finally the car began to pull into an abandoned street and Burton could no longer keep silent. “You can’t just make FBI Agents disappear.”
The man simply turned another empty corner. “I’m not going to make you disappear.”
Burton swallowed. Great- he was just going to kill him then. “What did you do to Luz?”
“I already told you. I made him fall asleep.”
The car began to slow down and the driver looked around. “Look,” Christenson grit his teeth and growled out, “if you’re going to kill me then what does it matter if you answer my questions?”
The SUV stopped behind another car and Christenson gaped as he recognized the man standing beside it.
It was Eugene Roe.
The red head turned around to face him, a set of keys in his hands. “I’m not going to kill you.” He informed him as he set to work on Burton’s cuffs. “In fact- you and I are going to help each other.”
Gene was immediately on guard when another vehicle came driving down the road and stopped directly behind them. But soon Guarnere was stepping out of the car, not looking the least bit alarmed and Gene assumed that this was all part of his plan.
The driver of the other vehicle was a tall red head who went to open the back door but was stopped when Babe came rushing out of the car and heading straight towards him.
The teenager collided with the man, wrapping his arms around him tightly. “Dick- I know now. I know everything.”
Dick recovered from his initial shock before he returned the hug, pulling Babe close to his chest and closing his eyes. They stayed that way for a few moments before Dick straightened back up and looked over Babe’s head.
He locked eyes with Bill, who gave him a small smile. With a shaky laugh Dick touched his hand to Babe’s head and Babe reluctantly let go of his brother to stare up at him.
Drinking in the sight of him for a moment Dick put a hand on Babe’s shoulder. “We’re going to get you somewhere safe okay?”
“It’s not fair- I just found out that you’re my brother and now we can’t be together?”
Dick sighed, “None of this is fair, I know. Not to people like you and me, not to our parents, but that’s how it’s always going to be unless someone changes things.”
Babe’s eyes got a far off look at the mention of their parents and Dick knew he had questions…but there was just no time.
“Why does it have to be you guys though?” Babe asked. “Why do you have to change things?”
Bill cleared his throat and the two turned to face him. “Because we have you. Because we’re a family and the Company won’t rest until they tear us apart. It’s the only way we can ever live in peace.”
They all remained silent for a moment before a loud thumping noise came from the back seat of the SUV. Dick moved away from Babe and opened the door, which Bill knew could only be opened from the outside.
“Christenson!?” Gene remarked in shock upon seeing that the FBI agent was not in as dire straits as he’d feared. “What’s going on? Where is Luz?”
“Luz is locked up in some jail cell and I have no idea what the Hell is going on.” The man informed Gene as he rubbed his sore wrists. “You probably no more than I do.”
Bill motioned them to the car. “I’m not going to be the one to explain just yet. I want you three in the back seat. Now. Me and Dick have to take care of something real quick.”
Gene ushered Babe back into the car and Christenson followed reluctantly. “What’s happening exactly?”
The doctor shrugged, “I’ll try for a simple and not entirely accurate explanation. They work for the bad guys-but only to protect their brother. Now they’re sending him and apparently me somewhere to lay low while they go rogue and try to take these people down.”
Christenson gaped, “What- just the two of them?”
“I guess so.”
The Agent shook his head and slid into the car. “Fucking crazy.” He muttered along the way.
Bill popped the trunk of his car and began to pull out everything they’d need to dispose of the Company SUV that Dick had traveled in.
“How suspicious were they?” he asked his partner.
“Not the least bit it seemed.” Dick answered. “I told them that Lewis Nixon had broken out of his holding facility and made the staff there think that’s what happened. Sobel threw a fit of course, but just told me to come back because he had a problem he needed taken care of.”
“Wiping the fed’s mind?” Bill guessed, handing Dick a gallon of gasoline.
Dick nodded, “You guessed it. They wanted to make him forget all about George and Eli Luz and anything else he’d discovered. But if we want to take the Company down he’s a useful ally.”
“We can’t get the FBI directly involved without exposing the existence of specials.”
The other man smirked as he began to pour gasoline over the SUV. “I was thinking more along the lines of ‘an extra person’ useful. We have no real game plan.”
Bill sighed heavily, “Don’t I know it.”
“You’ve always been the man with the plan. This must be frustrating for you.”
“We’ve pulled a few Hail Mary’s you and me.” Bill grinned at him. “This’ll be a piece of cake.”
Dick laughed softly before stopping his work of committing arson to stare at Bill fondly. “I wanted to talk about something with you. Before we lose the chance.”
But Bill shook his head and pulled out a box of matches. “What’s there to talk about? I love you. You love me. Now we’re going to go and kick the ass of anyone who tries to split up our family. You in?”
Dick dropped the gasoline and walked over to the car, waiting for Bill to set the SUV on fire. When he had done so and made his way back to the driver’s side, he and Dick ignored the heat of the flames for a moment to gaze at one another over the roof of Bill’s car.
Finally Dick nodded. “Yeah. I’m in.”