....Men. [RP for changehistory, heroslayer & hadtobeahero]

[capturedworlds]

The minutes it took them to get from the ballroom to the room upstairs seemed some of the longest of Melissa's life. For a few excruciating heartbeats she'd been convinced there was going to be bloodshed in the flash of the colored lights, painting the pastels of the wannabe fairy court a vivid red. She'd smacked a hold on Sylar as fast as she

Comments

[changehistory]

Adam looked vaguely amused, leaning against the dresser next to the television.

"Yes, well, we've managed to take care of things, as well, or we wouldn't be standing here, but I have to say it's getting damned annoying. I didn't spend thirty years in a Company cell just to end up threatened with another, or constantly looking over my shoulder once I was out because Nathan had to go and get a bug up his arse about God only knows what." His amusement had turned to annoyance. "This wasn't amusing in the sixties and it's far less amusing now that they've made it a witch hunt."

Melissa was watching him carefully, uncertainty flickering in her eyes before she cut her gaze away. He was making her head hurt trying to read him and the effort of holding the other two was faltering.

"I'm tired of running, but, no matter how powerful, no one or two of us can stop them alone. You two, however," he glanced between Sylar and Peter, "Are the two most powerful of us to have come along in a while." He was refusing to count Arthur on principle. "I think together we might stand a shot."

[hadtobeahero]

"We're not killing him," Peter put in, flashing Adam a frown. He knew that his brother had screwed them all over in such a terrible way, and he doubted that he'd talk to Nathan once this was all over, but this was Nathan. He was still his brother, and he wasn't going to follow in the footsteps of the rest of his family and do something that drastic to blood. No matter how good an idea some part of him thought it would be to just tear him apart to see why he had done this.

"Why not? He won't stop, otherwise." And really, Sylar had always wanted to be able to fly.

Peter curled his fingers into a fist at his side. "There's gotta be another way. I know he's done some pretty fucked up stuff, but -- there has to be another way."

[capturedworlds]

"I agree with Peter," Melissa said, voice quiet. "Besides, it wouldn't do any good, and would just prove to the others that we are what they're saying. Senator Petrelli may have started this, and he needs to be removed from power, somehow, but his goons won't stop just because he's gone. We need something more comprehensive."

Adam gave her an assessing look, then nodded. "My thoughts exactly. This has gone too far. A simple mishap, covered up, like before won't fix anything. You knock out one individual, someone else steps up to take his place, and we don't get our freedom--we get the weight of the U.S. military bearing down on us eventually. We need something far more strategic than brute force, and for that, we need an organized team, not random attacks when they come after us."

[capturedworlds]

Melissa tried to contain the trembling the exhaustion of holding them together was bringing out. Almost as an experiment, she loosened the hold on the two of them, to see if they could keep their own control of their emotions. "We need to discredit them, and take out the other one. Danko. Maybe even out Nathan to his buddies."

Adam nodded approvingly. "That's a start. Of course, we need to come up with how to do that. Outing Nathan would be lovely--he's got the political contacts to maybe undo some of what he's done, but Danko is going to be a problem. He's a fanatic. He may just have to go, and then there are all those who know about us...it's going to be a big job to cover it up or discredit them."

[hadtobeahero]

"Outing him might not be that hard," Peter offered, reluctantly. "I mean, Nathan can fly and self-preservation instinct counts for a lot. If one of his guys got it into their head to push him out a window or something ... "

He trailed off, shrugging, and Sylar took a moment to actually think about that. "Danko would do it -- like you said, he's obsessed. If he had reason to think Nathan was like us, he'd do anything to out him, and if it turns out he was wrong -- " Which it wouldn't, but he was making a statement about Danko's character here. " -- no hard feelings, right? He was just doing his job."

Peter made a face and reached up to thread his fingers through his hair. "That still brings us back to how we'd do it, though. He's not just gonna take our word on it if we just marched up to him and told him Nathan was like us."

Or at least not before he had tasered the hell out of whoever had been stupid enough to just walk up to him.

[capturedworlds]

Melissa bit her lower lip, a frown pulling at her brows as she tried to think. "He seems suspicious enough that he just might, actually, but it would be way too much of a risk for any of us, even you two, if they were able to drug you or something." Another minute. "We could always go the anonymous note route--he seems the type who'd want to follow any lead, no matter how silly it might seem. As Sylar said--what's the harm if he's wrong, in his mind? Oops?"

Adam gave her an amused look. "A note?"

She looked back and shrugged. "Whole civilizations have fallen starting with simple suggestions, and more than one story has broken from a tip from an anonymous source."

"Reporter?" he asked.

Melissa shrugged. "Yeah."

"That could be useful later on," Adam said, giving her an inscrutable look. "Of course, an even more direct idea would be to have someone implant the suggestion in his mind to do something about it. To make sure he follows up on the lead, as it were. Telepathy is really such a useful ability when trying to get people to do things..."

[hadtobeahero]

"I might be able to get in touch with Matt," Peter said, his frown deepening just a bit. Chances were he could get Matt to meet him somewhere, but the odds were even higher that Sylar would follow him and that Matt would end up dead, and he couldn't risk that. He couldn't let Sylar hurt one of his friends or let him have that kind of power.

[capturedworlds]

Melissa wasn't sure who Matt was, so she just gave him an inquiring look. Adam made a face, but, well. He had Parkman family issues. Still, Peter needed to reaccess powers, and abilities, and it would be a useful one to acquire.

"That would be helpful," he said without much inflection, keeping his personal feelings about Matt out of his voice.

[hadtobeahero]

"Matt's -- " He flashed Adam a vaguely apologetic look, able to sense something, even if he wasn't sure what it was, exactly. " -- he's a friend of mine. He's a telepath, and I'm kind of -- I can do what other people do, if I'm around them long enough. If I got Matt to swing by, I'd be telepathic by the time he left."

"The question is, would he come." Even if no one felt it necessary to inform Matt that he was in the area, Sylar didn't peg Matt for anything other than a coward. And considering the situation they were all faced with, he expected that the former cop was miles underground by now, just to avoid Nathan. Either that or he was stupid enough to get caught. "Or if you brother doesn't have him locked up somewhere."

[capturedworlds]

Melissa flicked a glance at Adam, his discomfort far more apparent to her, even as focused as she was on the other two, and arched an eyebrow. Peter's explanation made sense as to why he'd suggest the man, but didn't explain Adam's reaction. Sylar's points were viable, too, though, especially as he apparently knew the man in question as well.

"No harm in finding out, though, is there?" she asked. "I mean, even if this Matt is somewhere else...we could go to him, get what we need and come back, right? I mean, we've been running this long. What's a few more days?"

Adam glanced at her and nodded, then looked back at Peter. "Might as well at least call him, or his wife, and see what you can find out. Use one of the buy-as-you go phones and then ditch it. If he has been taken, obviously, he's of no use to us. If he won't come to us...we can certainly go to him."

[hadtobeahero]

Peter looked at each of them in turn, shifting from one foot to the other, uncertain. "You want me to do it now? Or are we waiting until tomorrow morning?"

It'd be harder to find a place to get a disposable phone at this hour, be he figured he could find somewhere if they were in that big of a hurry.

[capturedworlds]

Melissa's eyebrows went up. "Surely it can wait 'til tomorrow..."

Adam nodded a bit, glancing back at Peter. "I think tomorrow is definitely time enough."

[hadtobeahero]

Peter offered the room a small, sheepish look. "Sorry, just ... " Used to flying by the seat of his pants, when it came to anything involving Nathan, lately. Used to feeling like there was no time, and if one wanted a plan to succeed that it needed to be put into motion yesterday. Things like that.

Sylar shrugged, leaning back against the dresser behind him. He was silent for a moment, and then, "So, what now?"

[capturedworlds]

Melissa gave Peter a small smile in return, and a little flutter of reassurance, though she was quickly giving out of any measure of power she might still be wielding. That in mind, she glanced around, looking over at Sylar a little cautiously. "We go back to whatever we were doing for the evening? Or...I don't know...get food and get to know each other a bit?" Food would be good, if she didn't pass out into it.

Adam gave a shrug of his own. "Either of those works for me. I have to admit to wanting to meet you for a while," he told Sylar with a thinly veiled look that was both assessing and admiring in a professional sort of way.