on_thecouch: Win or Lose
Sasha's office was one of her favorite and least favorite places to be. She loved how she could steal some peace and quiet in the afternoons by locking her door, kicking off her Loubs, and turning toward the window while she caught up on things. Time passed quickly that way, and the work usually didn't seem like it involved nearly as much effort when she could distract herself with the view every once in a while. When it started to get dark, that was her cue to slip back into her heels, unlock the door, and deal with the final items of the day. She replied to a few last minute emails, went over her schedule for the next day, and pulled any relevant information she would need to be prepared.
She got incredibly engrossed in researching their clients sometimes. It had nothing to do with them being interesting, and everything to do with the fact that she wanted to prove herself. She was young, relatively inexperienced at being responsible for an entire division, and still extremely new to the company. Earning respect was still a priority, and it probably would be for some time. Still, there were dangers involved in being too preoccupied with work.
As her luck would have it, Sasha was so involved that she didn't notice anyone standing in front of her desk until she looked up and saw a somewhat familiar face there. "Holy--geez." She gasped, dropping the folder that she had been reading onto her desk, and sitting back in her seat. It probably wasn't necessary, but she wanted to run. In her mind the best thing she could do was try to get out of the office while there were still people around, and call Peter. Her only problem was that her body wasn't cooperating with her mind, and neither were her emotions.
She was scared, pissed, but scared.The man standing in front of her had more than earned the right to be considered both scary and rage-inducing. Not to mention the fact that he was creepier in person, which was not something she could say out loud. Instead, she settled on something a little more formal that came out extremely tight. "Mr. Petrelli. What are you doing here?"
Arthur quirked an eyebrow at the tone he received, and couldn't help faint amusement. "I apologize." He replied calmly, choosing not to answer her question just yet. "I should've knocked at the very least." That would be proper manners, after all. And their first face to face meeting would've started on a better note because of it.
Provided, of course, she would've actually seen him if he'd gone the polite route. And since he highly doubted that, he figured he couldn't quite be begrudged doing things this way. "Relax. You're in no danger here." She was controlling her fear relatively well given the situation, but that didn't mean he couldn't sense it. Or that he couldn't hear the thoughts racing through her head. "If I meant to hurt you, I would've done it already." She had to know that much.
He looked back over his shoulder. "Mind if I take a seat?" Without waiting for an answer, he did exactly that. Arthur sat back, taking a moment to study the girl who, by all accounts, was exactly the type he'd expect to wind up a member of his family. Although, if he was honest, he'd say she wasn't quite what he'd expected for Peter. For better or worse, he was still managing to surprise him.
"I thought it was time we met." He stated idly, gaze never moving from hers. "Given the circumstances we might not have time for something like this in the future."
Sasha nodded, not wanting to agree to anything that he was saying. She knew that this was completely unnecessary. He was here to get a reaction out of her, or worse, to get a reaction out of Peter. It was probably a major relief for Arthur to know that he had taken every ability Peter could have possibly tried to use against him. It was also another reason why Sasha was choosing to keep quiet about wanting him to leave; they both knew he held all of the cards in this conversation.
"I'm Sasha," she offered, perfectly aware that she wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know. There wasn't anything she wanted to offer that probably hadn't turned up in whatever background check he had done on her, assuming he cared that much about Peter's life. She couldn't see it. It wasn't Peter's life that he was concerned about.
And if he had taken an interest in her, it sure as hell wasn't out of concern for his son. She understood how this worked. He wanted to see what, if anything, she would be useful for. She could feel it. It wasn't as if he made any effort to cover up the way he was looking her over, making some kind of a silent judgment on what kind of person she was. She hated it.
"But if you didn't know that, you wouldn't be here," she added, straightening up in her chair. The sooner they got this over with, the better.
"Right." He nodded a bit. He only took a moment think over an introduction, then decided that if she was making the effort so to speak, he'd do so for now. "And as you know, I'm Arthur Petrelli." It was debatable just what was worth discussing here. He could hear more inside her head than he'd ever get from just talking to her, and he knew it. What was more, she knew it.
But her growing indignation still wasn't doing much more than entertaining him. And maybe causing him to make a few slightly disturbing comparisons he truly wished he hadn't. "You seem to be doing well here." Working for Bruce Wayne. Now that was... Something. "How's Henry?" Another interesting development. From what he'd read, he didn't gather her to be the type to adopt.
"Adjusting well to his new life?"
Sasha glared over at Arthur for bringing Henry up, barely able to keep down the protective side of her that badly wanted to tell him that her son was off limits. She thought she was cooperating better than most would have expected of her. Generally, when someone tried to scare her into doing what they wanted, she tried to remove herself from the situation as quickly as possible. She was trying with Arthur, whether he realized it or not.
But she was doing that in order to understand what kind of man Nathan and Peter were up against. Friendly conversation wasn't something she was interested in, especially after everything he'd done. And even when she went along with it, there was a line that she wasn't willing to cross.
"We're all doing fine," she informed him, finding a blanket statement about the three of them more tolerable to her than offering any information about Henry to Arthur.
"Good to know." He nodded. "I know it can't be easy with the way things've been playing out. For you, or him." But as young as he was, Arthur wasn't too worried about Henry. A quick check into his biological parents' background hadn't revealed much of interest, and it was likely safe to say the boy wasn't going to be much of a player in anything as he got older. He'd just been in the wrong place at the right time. Just like this girl, technically.
"And I'm also aware how hard this has to be on Peter." Didn't change the fact that as far as Arthur was concerned, Peter had brought a fair amount of this upon himself. "He's coping without his powers?" He went a little further, gaging her reaction on that and looking for something more definite. Not just to satisfy his own curiosity on the subject, but to decide what came next. At this rate, Nathan and Gabriel would be easier to handle. And they were the ones that still had their powers.
"He's coping as well as can be expected given the fact that he was ability-raped by someone who he trusted," she said, her voicing finally finding the calm tone that she had been going for earlier. It could have even been a little too calm. He had crossed another line. "Peter always told me that he was the other Petrelli. He said that he was never good enough for you, no matter what he did. After a while, he just stopped trying."
She paused, giving thought to that idea because something had occurred to her that she hadn't really considered before. "He's too good, isn't he?" Sasha asked, growing a little more nervous. She doubted he would be willing to agree with her, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try. If he was here to interrogate, she could try to get a few answers out of him, too. "He won't compromise on what he believes is right for any reason. And he knows what the future is going to be like, you're afraid he won't stop fighting until he stops you."
Arthur smirked faintly, taking a moment before he would answer that one. "What happened with Peter was necessary." He stated, his own calm never wavering in the face of Sasha's. Definitely odd, the comparisons that could be made. "And yes, it is that lack of compromise that worries me. It's something that all of my sons are guilty of." Although at least Gabriel was capable of listening to reason the most without too much of a fight.
"Peter's lack of compromise comes from certain influences." He rose, waiting for Sasha to do the same. "Things that drive him to make decisions that're unsafe for him and people he cares about." He thought it wouldn't be hard to tell where he was going with this.
"Despite what you think of me, I have no interest in hurting Peter, Nathan, or Gabriel. I want nothing but the best for my family. But what I'm working towards can't be compromised, Sasha. It's not just for me, it's for everyone. Like those Aunts of yours, Laura and Diem, I believe. And those Uncles. Jack and Milo, right? Nevermind your cousin Carter, or your best friend Miles and his entire family. I've seen Gina Lawson in Phantom of the Opera, she was good."
The message there, he also assumed, could go unsaid.
While Arthur talked, Sasha listened. She stood with her arms crossed, at what she considered to be a safe distance away from him--until she thought about it, and realized that she couldn't get far enough away from him to be safe. The whole point of staying in Gotham had been to keep Henry out of the line of fire, but there wasn't anyplace they could go that Arthur couldn't get to anytime he wanted. There wasn't anyone he wasn't willing to put at risk to make his point, even with someone as insignificant as her.
All of Peter's fears were justified. She had believed it before, but she felt it now. It wasn't just their future that she was worried about at this point, it was their lives, their families, their friends. Arthur wanted control of everything that mattered to his sons. And if not all of them, he was sure as hell going out of his way to break Peter down. She wasn't going to make it easy on him. She was hearing him out, controlling herself. Trying not to make things worse for any of them. And yet it didn't seem to amount to very much.
"Why are you telling me this?" Sasha genuinely wanted to know. "I'm not Peter. I can't speak for him. I don't make decisions for him. I'm not even in the same state as him now and you're--" her voice went too low, giving more away than she wanted to. It took her a minute to get past it. "Whatever you think I can do for you, I can't. It's like I said, Peter doesn't compromise. Not even for me."
"That's where you're wrong." And with a girl as smart as she was, he thought she should know better. Maybe she did. Tracy Strauss certainly had a better handle on what she was capable of, and was far more willing to use it. Maybe Sasha just didn't want to use that power. But in Arthur's experience, under the right circumstances, anyone could be persuaded to do something they'd never do otherwise. And it wasn't just war that had taught him that.
Turning away, Arthur walked to the center of her office, hands folded neatly behind his back. "As I said, Peter's inability to compromise comes from certain influences." He turned back smoothly to face her, eyes meeting hers directly once again. "Prime among them being you." Good. She knew that. He wasn't dealing with an idiot. That was comforting.
Somewhat, anyway. "I want this to have a happy ending." He promised. "Just as much as you do. You think you're removed from this. You've been trying to back off since the beginning. You think that it's safer for you, Henry, for everyone. You think that just because you don't have an ability clearly you hold no power over the situation." He shook his head. "You're deluding yourself, Sasha. You could stop this, and you know it. Peter's on a crusade he can't win. If you truly want that happy ending, you know which direction to send him in."
He glanced around the office, silent for a moment. "You're going to have a great life together if this ends right, Sasha. He'll be happy." He raised an eyebrow at her. "You want him to be happy, don't you?"
There was a brief pause as he got the latest reading of what was going on inside her head. "Now that's rude." His eyebrows knitted together in a disapproving frown. "I'd much prefer you called me Dad."
He smirked, regarding her with a slight nod. "Welcome to the family."
And he disappeared.
Sasha Hoffman
Original Character
2,357 words
Co-written with ihavethem_now