Fic: Frequent Flyer (Chapter 3)
Frequent Flyer
Author: dela26
Rating: pg - 13
Summary: Electricity + metal plane = bad.
Author’s note: AU. Elle-centric. Hints of Sylar/Elle. Sorry it's taken me awhile to update this story, thanks for all of the support! Hope to get the next chapter up soooon, depends on how my muse is feeling. Special thanks to faded_facade for mad beta skills. Brainchild of the fanfic challenge by catyuy and di_elle on the sylarelle livejournal community. ;) Review = love!
After sprinting for over thirty minutes, Elle comes to a sudden halt at the sight of what lurks in the clearing of the forest.
The new outlaw grumbles to herself, “Great. Just what I need, white trash.”
Elle slowly and cautiously creeps towards a beat up and rusty trailer home. Perhaps she can find a phone to contact someone, anyone, to help her get the hell out of here. Maybe acquire some food and water to refuel before she continues her journey. She needs to get out of the country, pronto. Elle isn’t too happy with her current lifestyle as a fugitive.
Suddenly, a very familiar tan figure wearing a Where’s Waldo-like striped shirt exits the trailer.
“Fight club!” Elle shouts as she approaches the scientist.
Mohinder jumps in surprise. “Elle? What are you doing here?”
"You don't sound happy to see me." Elle smiles widely. Her smile falters as she comes into better view of her former partner at the Company. "Unless you got some nice cover up… looks like the gross scales are outta the picture.”
Elle has never felt the need to sugar coat it. She just tells it how it is. There is no self editing before she opens her mouth. Her brutally honest tendencies are most likely related to her impulse control problems.
Mohinder shifts uncomfortably. “A strange combination of the eclipse… and red goo.”
“Huh… well, the events of the eclipse left me with some interesting side effects as well.” Elle has the urge to touch her stomach, but doesn’t want to draw attention to her unborn tiny baby. Dangerous information. And nobody is trust worthy at this point. Although Mohinder doesn’t have the scales, Elle still is cautious of the spider freak-a-zoid evolved wannabe. Last time she checked, Mohinder was experimenting on evolved humans and probably taking the weak ones back to his lab to cocoon for a late night snack.
Mohinder makes a strange face at Elle’s comment, opens his mouth as if to ask a question but is distracted when two Japanese men come stomping around the trailer.
Elle immediately recognizes one of the newcomers. Electrical energy surges through her body at the rise of her irritation and anger.
“You!” Elle glares daggers at the short and stout Japanese man. A large, dangerous ball of energy forms between her fingertips. The blue sparks snap loud and bright.
The Japanese man looks startled, brings his hands up in surrender. “Me?!?”
“Yeah, you. Thanks a honey-bunch for teleporting me to doomsday. I got sliced and diced by the serial killer.” Elle moves her pointer finger across her forehead.
“Sylar?!?! No, no! Not my fault, I was, uh, temporarily ten years old at the time.” The Japanese man fiddles nervously with his glasses.
“Ri--ght. That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard." Elle growls.
“Yes, yes, it’s true. Hiro's mind was altered.” The buffer Japanese man with better English jumps into the conversation. He places a hand on the nervous teleporter, relieving some of tension from the jittery man. The two men share a long, compassionate gaze.
"Whatever." Elle rolls her eyes. "Okay, how about this, let's all hold hands, sing kumbaya- and teleport the fuck out of here."
Hiro hangs his head. "I lost my power."
"Awesome. Does your buddy here have a useful ability?"
The other Japanese man creates a ball of red energy in his fingertips. He explains, "I'm like a supercharger. My power enhances other's abilities."
The red energy sparks near Elle and she angrily jumps a foot back. "Woah, get your little sparkler away from me. We don't want an huge electrical blast giving our position away to the enemy. Which reminds me...why are we hanging out here in the open looking like a bunch of targets?”
Hiro shrugs, Supercharger makes a funny face, and Mohinder looks angry.
Elle crosses her arms and gives a disapproving look. “In case it slipped your pea-sized brains, we have bad guys trying to round us up like cattle.”
Mohinder narrows his eyes, voice slightly defensive. “Hiro, Ando, Parkman and I are trying to figure out what to do next.”
“Parkman?” Elle’s stomach turns. She had met the mastermind Company co-founder when she was in pig tails jumping rope in the cold hallways of Level 5. Parkman would play little jokes with her. But the jokes were sick, twisted, and not very funny at all. Elle thought Parkman was toast…but, Elle knows firsthand that specials usually don’t stay dead.
“You know Matt?” Ah ha, the son.
As if on cue, a heavier man walks out from around the trailer, holding a handful papers. Elle assumes that he must be the bastard son of the Maury Parkman. The man certainly looks like a younger version of the evil telepath. Matt’s eyes slide to inspect Elle, he looks down at one of his papers and back up to Elle.
“What?” Elle smirks, “Do I have something on my face?”
“You get, um… well, here… look.” Matt hold out a piece of paper. Elle raises an eyebrow at his stumbling words and walks over to him.
The paper has a drawing that depicts a petite blond woman being held prisoner inside a small glass cell. It appears as if it is raining inside the room. There is a water all the way up to the prisoner‘s knees. The woman is shackled down in metal restraints, looking both exhausted and very wet. The prisoner is screaming in anger or agony, maybe both. Electricity is leaking around her blue eyes.
"You get captured." Hiro squeaks from behind Elle. The powerless teleporter is looking at the picture over her shoulder.
“I look fat.” Elle playfully pouts. But inside, the overly confident woman is struggling inside. She realizes that the image is actually depicting a growing baby bump.
The sound of a phone ring makes the men jump in unison. Elle rolls her eyes at the pathetic weaklings she’s surrounding herself with. Mohinder snaps open his phone, and listens with concentration and mumbles a response. He holds his phone to his chest and reports back to the group, “It’s Peter, he’s given us directions to meet at a nearby church about a mile north of here. Let‘s head out.”
As Elle slides into the old beat-up truck, she overhears Hiro munching on something. “Whatcha got there Pikachu?”
Hiro turns his head towards the electrical woman to reveal fat cheeks full of food, making him look like a chipmunk. The Japanese man chews fast and swallows before speaking, “Uh, Captain Crunch cereal. I found it in the back of the truck.”
The teleporter holds up the cereal box. The sight of the processed sugary food sends Elle in a frenzied state. She realizes that it has been a long time since she has eaten. Days maybe.
Elle holds a hand out and growls, “Gimme. NOW!”
Hiro throws the box at Elle, probably afraid that any delay would be punished with a painful zap. The famished woman begins immediately stuffing her face with the cardboard stale cereal. She purrs in delight as she satisfies her intense hunger. Elle clutches the box tightly, as if afraid that the food might disappear. The evolved human is after all eating for two. The entire car ride, Elle is fixated on her food and is surprised when Mohinder stops the vehicle.
The men slide out of the truck and move over to a picnic bench. Elle stays in the truck. If any government operatives fall outta the sky, at least she has a get-away vehicle. Elle lays across the front seat on her stomach, her body is sore and bruised from running around in the woods. The normally charged and energetic woman is exhausted and in desperate need of a nice long nap, but knows that this isn't the time to sleep. She's still in enemy territory. A cat nap is going to have to wait.
Peter Petrelli gracefully lands onto the scene, right on time.
“Oh great.” Elle mumbles to herself. She makes no move to join the boys' club meeting. Captain Crunch cereal is her number one priority at this moment.
As Elle continues to munch on the sugary breakfast food, her eyes discover an unopened liter of Pepsi on the floor of the truck. Elle immediately bites her nails as her eyes lovingly caress the soda pop bottle. It's been over three months since the mother-to-be has had caffeine in her system. Elle is a caffeine addict. She regularly drank copious amounts of coffee and Slush-O every day before she found out there was a mini-Elle in her belly. The sight of the Pepsi bottle is a major trigger for the pregnant special. Her mouth begins to water, fingers itching to touch the bottle. Elle knows that taking in high doses of caffeine daily during pregnancy, whether from coffee, tea, cola, chocolate, energy drinks, or cherry Slush-O, has long been associated with an increased risk of miscarriage. She learned this vital piece of knowledge her What to Expect When Your Expecting book. The sight of the Pepsi bottle is enough to put her in a state of near panic, forcing her to struggle ungracefully out of the vehicle.
In her attempts to escape the urge to consume the entire liter of Pepsi, Elle ends up falling out of the truck and landing hard on her butt.
"Are you all right?" Hiro asks.
Why do people always ask you that when the answer is obviously no? Elle murmurs, "Just peachy keen."
Peter raises an eyebrow at her entrance. “Elle?”
“What’s crack-a-dackling Petey?” Elle forces a smile. She cocks her head to the side when she realizes that Peter showed up alone and with the ability to fly none the less. "Where's blondie? Did your rendezvous with big brother not end up how you expected?"
"Tracy was captured." Peter states without emotion. The empath sighs to himself and turns to the other evolved humans. “Toss your cell phones. It’s the last time we get together using these things. If we can find each other so can they. We have fifteen minutes.”
“Understood.” Mohinder gestures towards the drawings. “You need to see these.”
“Where did you get them?” Peter looks over the pictures thoughtfully.
Elle sits down on the wooden picnic table. Shaky fingers begin to fiddle with the drawing that apparently is supposed to be about her. Elle tries to put on a confident and playful smile, hide the fact she’s scared shitless of the dark future that the picture foretells.
“Matt. He drew them right after the crash. He has Isaac’s‘ gift.”
“I recognize this building.” Mohinder picks up one of the drawings. “In New Delhli.”
“India?” Hiro stands tall, his eyes are distant. “The warrior must have his sword. I must regain my powers. Help defeat this menace. It is my destiny to go there.”
Elle makes a face at the teleporter, “Really? 'The warrior must have his sword.' Did you steal that line from a fortune cookie?”
Hiro shrugs in response to Elle’s comment.
Matt shakes his head, still absorbed with the prophetic images. “What they are doing to us isn’t justice. It’s stupid. Blind fear.”
Mohinder looks confused, “If you don’t want them punished, what do you want?”
“I want them to pay. For Daphne.”
Elle raises an eyebrow at Matt‘s comment and agitated disposition. She didn’t realize the Speedster would slow down enough to get caught…or killed.
“Matt, that’s not us, not you.” Mohinder pleads.
Peter interjects, voice cool and confident. “Let’s get one thing straight. Our lives as we knew them are over. We can’t go back to anything that we knew.”
“Then what do we do?” Supercharger asks.
“We bring the fight to them. With everything we got.” Parkman suggests.
“Won’t be easy. Credit cards, bank accounts, they’re gone. Homes are going to be watched. Can’t trust the phones. We gotta find a way to defend ourselves. We leave everything. Do what it takes to survive. Do things we can’t even imagine. Remember, they are going to come for us. And when that day comes, we have to be ready.” Peter explains as if he’s a professional resistance fighter.
Elle is already visualizing the duct tape over Peter’s mouth. The other boys listen to Peter with wide, obedient eyes. If he yells jump, they’d most definitely obey. Elle doesn’t like the game of Simon Says. She’s never been very good at listening to orders. Especially orders from a very inexperienced leader.
“Thanks for the motivational speech, Petey." Elle stands up and stretches her arms in the air. “Someday we‘ll look back on all of this, laugh nervously, and change the subject.”
“Elle…” Peter‘s eye brows are furrowed in frustration.
“As much as this has been fun…” Elle smirks, “I’m going to have to pass on joining your little boys' club. Not because I don‘t agree with the mission statement, but ‘cause I gots boobies.“
“Elle…“ Peter continues to plead. The other men look concerned.
“Look, the pretty picture shows that I’m suppose to get in a really sucky situation. And sticking around with you all is gonna get me captured. Unlike Hiro here, I‘m not going to allow this picture to come true because of some mumbo jumbo about destiny. Check ya laters.”
Elle breaks off in a sprint, ignoring their cries. Elle can’t believe she hung around the idiots for as long as she did. The former agent mentally smacks herself in disapproval. She should be miles away from this place by now. Stupid stupid stupid.
Elle is running as fast as her feet allow. Runs and runs until tears are falling down her face from the over excursion. Her body screams for her to slow down, take a break. But she ignores the throbbing pain. Mind over matter.
As Elle approaches a road, she stops to determine if it's safe to cross. The road is still, silent. Too silent. The hairs on the back of her neck stand in alarm. Elle hears rustling behind her. The petite blond whirls around and points her hands in the shape of guns.
Right as she begins to release an intense surge of power towards the government operatives, a large bucket of water is thrown across her body. Electricity flows from her fingertips to her toes. The water makes her short out. Stings like a bitch.
Elle’s own ability knocks her down to the ground. She screams from both the frustration and immense pain.
"Mother fu--” Elle is cut off as an agent shoves a needle into her neck, while another pulls a mask over her face.
Blackness surrounds her. Elle falls back down the rabbit hole.
Author’s note:You likey? Thanks for being patient... my muse is struggling. Shall I continue? ;) Reviews taste like candy!