Heroes, "The Devil and Her Treasures" chapter 8
Fandom: Heroes
Title: The Devil and Her Treasures
Author: paynesgrey
Artist: rebelle_elle
Word Count: 23,514
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Claire, Peter, Sylar, Elle, Noah Jr, Nathan, Rene, Danko, Knox, Daphne, Claire/Elle, Elle/Sylar, past Peter/Claire
Warnings character death, manipulation, implied incest, torture, violence, sexual situations
Notes: Written for heroes_bigboom. A huge thanks goes to bellonablack for the beta job. This is a sequel to my other fic, Grave New World, and takes place in the "exposed future" around the events of the “Second Coming” and “I am Become Death” episodes, as well as the “Resistance” online graphic novel chapter 106 (which I would recommend reading if you want some early chapters to make sense).
Summary: Renowned terrorist Peter Petrelli has been hiding Sylar, Elle and their son for a long time after Noah Bennet’s death, and when Pinehearst Agent Claire Bennet finally discovers them, they strike a deal to leave Sylar and his son alone, as long as Elle becomes Claire’s prisoner.
Link to art master post: HERE.
The Devil and Her Treasures
Chapter Eight: Tipping the Tightrope
When Claire relayed her report on Peter’s plans to Nathan, he didn’t seem concerned. Claire found it odd; if she knew someone was planning on changing the future by meddling with the past, she’d be worried, and if it were her call, she would have snatched up the nearest time-space manipulator that money could buy and send him after Peter.
Nathan, however, didn’t do that. “He’ll destroy the past all on his own more than he’ll destroy our present,” Nathan said confidently. Claire scoffed.
“How could you be so sure?” Claire asked him, sliding off his desk and pacing around his office again.
“We’re still here, aren’t we? Time is still the same,” Nathan said, rubbing his chin. “No, whatever my brother intended to do in the past, well, he hasn’t succeeded yet.”
“He said he was going to stop you...from telling everyone,” Claire said, furrowing her brow. “How could he do that?”
Nathan met her gaze, and Claire felt as though she might have been wrong about Nathan’s lack of concern. Within his eyes she could see some discomfort, and she wondered if he really did know what Peter was up to. Either way, he was right for now. Time hadn’t changed, and the harsh reality was that Peter was gone - in time somewhere, which meant Claire was even further away from getting her hands on Elle.
She sighed heavily when silence signaled the end of their conversation and she headed for the door. “I’ll keep you posted if he shows up again. I have my best agents stationed at that hangar, as well as his usual hangouts.”
Before he could acknowledge her, Claire was already out his door. She marched through Pinehearst toward the nearest basement elevator. She only had one place to go on her mind.
xxxxx
When Claire arrived, Elle shot her a smile that she expected her. Immediately she teased her, and Claire stood with her back against the wall, staring at Elle with a frown.
“See? I told you that we didn’t know anything about Peter’s plans. I heard a guard talking down here. Did he really go back in time?”
“You know he did,” Claire grumbled at her. “He’s gone.”
Elle snickered at her. “Sucks for you!”
Claire didn’t say a word. She stood silently against the wall, watching Elle, imagining what she would do to her if she could get her hands on her. It was easier to indulge herself this way.
(Claire always liked to use knives on her prisoners, cutting a single slash against their pristine skin for every life they expelled, watching as their blood dribbled onto the metal slab. However, Claire supposed Elle was immune to such torture, and perhaps the only thing that would affect her is the constant dowsing of water where her powers would short out, sporadically shocking and burning her without control.)
When Claire’s mind wandered elsewhere, Elle got the hint Claire’s attention was lost, so instead she sat against her wall staring back at her, as both women were consumed in silence and their own thoughts.
Claire’s thoughts were easy - she’d seen it so clear in her mind since Elle arrived as a prisoner of Pinehearst. She’d tie her up, draw a hood over her face, and give her an old fashion water boarding. Meanwhile, the water would mix with her stress, causing her powers to go wild. Elle would feel the pain and electricity course through her body, starting at her lips where the water was slowly drowning her.
Claire smirked. She wondered if Elle’s father had even thought of that one.
xxxxx
Peter was still missing, so Claire had made a habit of visiting Elle every day she could, leaning against the wall an indulging in her fantasies. Elle would try to speak to her, but Claire would hardly indulge her with anything more than a one word answer and a smile.
Soon, Elle would give up and watch her with fascination as Claire continued to torture the girl only in her mind.
Claire considered it more of a to-do list really. A very well thought out to-do list.
xxxxx
Day after day of trading a few barbs with Elle and staring at her with sick fascination, it didn’t occur to Claire that she was more than enjoying this set-up. Even if she couldn’t touch Elle, she could at least let her imagination run wild.
It became more than a daydream of torture for her. Claire was finding herself haunted by Elle in her dreams.
“The guards whisper about you, you know,” Elle said, bringing her out of her thoughts one day. Claire glowered at her, but Elle knew she was paying attention. She grinned at Claire, placing her palms against the glass and giving the former cheerleader a sultry smile. “They told me you switched sides and started liking women. How cute is that? Although, I always had a feeling.”
Claire watched as Elle’s hand moved to one of her breasts underneath her gray prison garb. She squeezed, and Claire stared, suddenly licking her lips. Elle laughed with delight.
“I knew it,” she said with a whistle. “So that’s what you’re doing when you’re standing there staring at me like a creeper.”
“You should be used to creepers, since you married one,” Claire shot back at her. Elle’s laughter increased in volume.
“Oh, I hit a nerve! So, is that all you got, Pom-Pom?”
“Screw you,” Claire grumbled, and she could hear Elle’s satisfied laughter as she marched away back to the elevator, cutting her time short by an hour that day.
xxxxx
And so Elle haunted her, in her dreams, in her wandering thoughts at work. Elle’s alluring and sadistic smile would flash before Claire’s mind in moments on the job, when she was bagging a villain and then they laughed at her - just as Elle would - knowing she couldn’t have her, knowing that she could only touch her within her mind.
Claire didn’t want to sleep, but she knew she needed it. She wasn’t a machine despite what other Pinehearst agents thought of her. But she knew if she slept she’d find Elle in her mind, inviting and tempting.
In her dreams, Elle would let Claire touch her, possess her, and hand her the water jug that Claire would use to torture her.
xxxxx
The darkness was heavy, not suffocating like a muggy day, but soft and comforting like a warm blanket. Claire licked the sweat on her lips, and she felt a female body shift around her. A tongue was sliding all over her - on her breasts, teasing and tugging at her nipples until they pebbled under her hot breath. She felt the woman move below, licking her, sucking the heat between her thighs as Claire jerked and shuddered under her head. Claire hadn’t felt like that for anyone in a long time. Claire couldn’t even believe she could feel.
Claire let out a ragged breath, feeling the woman slide into a spot beside her, kissing her and tracing her fingers down Claire’s arm.
She opened her eyes slowly, seeing a red haze wash over her as a white light blinked at her. In the background, an alarm roared around them as people scrambled outside.
“Now we’ve done it,” said a woman next to her. The voice was cocky and seemingly unstable, undoubtedly belonging to Elle. She was laughing, like she always did in Claire’s dreams. “We’re bringing the whole place down.”
“No,” Claire said, and she felt a hand on her face, stroking lovingly. Then, Elle patted her cheek with an electric pulse at her fingertips, grazing over Claire’s flesh.
“Yes,” she whispered against her skin. Claire felt a kiss there, and her body ached for Elle’s continued touch.
Claire turned toward her, and Elle propped herself on an elbow, giving Claire a cheeky look. “Now, Pom-Pom, finish what you started.”
Claire exhaled another heavy breath. Just what had she started? Elle’s smile faded, and her stare was stern. “Kill me, or they’ll never going to believe that you weren’t responsible for this.”
“For what?” Claire asked desperately. And why would she kill Elle? Yes, she’d imagined it so many times, but here, in this dream, she was horrified by the concept. If Elle could make her feel, why would she want to ever destroy that?
“For letting me escape,” Elle said, and she leaned in close. “Because you love me.” The woman pressed a soft kiss to Claire’s lips. “You idiot.”
xxxxx
Claire jolted awake, disturbed by the remnants of her dreams still buzzing within her mind. She rubbed her hand over her arms, trying to capture the phantom touch of Elle’s fingers that had been all over her skin - as if she could ever feel such a way again.
Why dream of Elle like that? When did she ever have such feelings for the woman? All her life knowing her she’d only ever disliked Elle. Elle had done so many terrible things to her and her family. Claire could only reason that someone like Elle needed to pay, to suffer like the criminal psychotic that she was.
So why dream such a dream?
And why did the feelings of a dream seem so real when they were not?
xxxxx
Claire didn’t visit Elle for a couple of days. She drove herself busy with work, and Nathan had called her to question the change in her.
“I thought I heard reports of Peter,” she said distantly.
Nathan didn’t say anything, and Claire could sense the scrutiny in his eyes.
“Are you feeling alright?” Nathan asked, and Claire hated that he almost sounded concerned. She shot him a furious, insulted look.
“I’m fine,” she seethed, and she turned from his office and went straight for the shooting range. She couldn’t visit Elle, not after a dream like that, so she had to find a different outlet for her stress.
xxxxx
When Claire finally braved visiting Elle, she found the woman sleeping. Claire made no motion to wake her, but she did stay to watch her.
She heard her mumbling in her sleep, and when she heard Elle murmur her son’s name, she felt almost ashamed as conflicted feelings rose to the surface.
As tears trailed from Elle’s slumbering eyes, Claire frowned when she felt an expected pinch in her chest, and finally, she decided to leave Elle alone.
xxxxx
The next time, Claire almost lost all her new-found sympathy for the woman when Elle started seducing her. Elle seemed to think this would work, and she even bargained to do anything Claire wanted; they didn’t have to tell the guard, as long as Elle could be free to see her son.
“I’ll do anything,” she said, palms and lips against the glass. “Please, I know you want it.” Claire narrowed her eyes at Elle.
As Claire walked away, she shook her head in shame.
Not at Elle, but at herself. Claire couldn’t believe she was actually tempted.
xxxxx
Weeks had gone by and there was still no sign of Peter. Claire still visited Elle, but she was too afraid to indulge in her fantasies of torturing the girl. She didn’t even know if she really wanted to torture Elle anymore, at least not as horribly as she had initially intended.
Instead, she leaned against the wall and listened to Elle ramble. Mostly she talked about her husband and son. When she talked about Sylar, Claire grew angry and Elle laughed at her hatred toward him.
“I hated him once too,” Elle said with a sigh. “I don’t know what changed, but one day, I suddenly didn’t hate him anymore. Maybe it was Noah.”
Claire pursed her lips. “You named your son after my dad.”
Elle turned to her and nodded. “Your father saved our lives.”
Claire sneered at her. “And then, like his house, you take his name too,” she spat. “You two don’t deserve anything from him, not his memory, not his name. Nothing.”
Elle turned from Claire’s hateful gaze and stared at the ceiling. “Maybe you’re right, Pom-Pom. But we had to do something for him. Noah Bennet had changed us.”
When Elle turned back to her captor, Claire was gone, but she heard her footsteps marching down the basement halls.
xxxxx
The more Claire visited Elle during Peter’s disappearance, the angrier Claire had become. She was letting Elle get to her while the woman rambled on and Claire did nothing but feel ashamed for wanting to the torture her, despite knowing the true origin of her desires.
Claire wanted to control Elle - absolutely, so much that it had become an obsession, and the more Claire obsessed, the more her dreams haunted her at having Elle - loving and touching her with tenderness.
She couldn’t stop from visiting her either. Even Nathan had lengthened Claire’s allocated visitation times, and he trusted his daughter enough to release the guard. Claire kept her word she wouldn’t torture her, and she supposed her dwindling bloodlust for Elle was an obvious influence in his decision.
Once Elle realized they would be alone without guards, her mocking and flirting only increased. She always approached Claire with her uniform buttons open, her breasts exposed when the material shifted as she moved. Claire couldn’t help but stare; Elle was right. Claire was attracted to her, and she couldn’t help but look when Elle’s breasts were right there in front of her.
“You really think that’s going to work on me?” Claire asked her, and Elle grinned. Claire stalked into Elle’s cell, challenging her to do more. Elle fell back on her cot, looking up at a Claire invitingly. She patted a spot beside her on the cot, but Claire didn’t budge. She just towered over Elle and glared sourly at her.
“You look, don’t you? Pervert. What would my husband say if he knew you were looking at me like this?” Elle mocked.
“What would he say to you trying to whore your way out of prison?” Claire asked with a snort.
Elle shrugged. “He would understand if he knew I was doing it so I could see my son. But I’m not going to see him, am I? I’ll probably be dead before I see Noah go to his first day at school.” Elle frowned, lost in the thoughts of her son.
“Probably, or your psychotic husband will kill him first,” Claire said bluntly, and Elle snapped her head to Claire with fury.
“Shut up! Gabriel would never hurt Noah!” Elle screamed at her.
“Whatever. Once a murderer, always a murderer,” Claire said flippantly, and Elle had shot up from her cot, coming toe-to-toe with Claire again.
Claire froze, and she noticed Elle’s fists clenched at her sides with electricity already buzzing in her palms.
“You just don’t get it, do you? You of all people should know better to make such judgments!” Elle said. “People can change! Gabriel and I did, and we had a son. They tortured us and made us parents, and we took responsibility. We were responsible and we could have lived happily if it weren’t for you! You’re the one who changed the most! Poor little Claire Bennet! Her real daddy didn’t love her, and her other daddy shipped her off to run with her uncle, but then he died because he saved peoples’ lives, people poor Claire didn’t like! Boo hoo! Let’s pity the poor cheerleader some more!”
“Stop it,” Claire seethed at her, trying to control her rage. No one, not even Nathan, had mentioned Noah Bennet to her in a long time. No one had even dared and they knew better too. Whatever emotions Claire held back to kill Elle were gone now. Claire wanted to rip her head off, and there was no guard in sight.
Elle stepped closer, grabbing Claire’s wrist. Claire’s eyes widened. “No,” Elle said. “You need to hear the truth. You may have changed into the perfect Pinehearst agent, but to me you are still the pathetic little girl who needs protecting. How does that sound? You think I’m a murderer, and I still think you’re a pathetic weakling!”
Fire shot through Claire’s body before she could move. Elle’s grip was steadfast, and Claire could feel it - all of Elle’s anger surging through her body in a stream of a thousand deadly volts. When Claire sensed that her body on the verge of death, she felt something switch back on inside her. Looking down, her skin was charred and burnt, but that didn’t faze her. What struck her is that Claire could feel - she could feel the horrible pain again. Whatever Sylar had taken away all those years ago, Elle’s surging rage had switched it back, and Claire knew it the moment she felt her own heart stop from the stress.
Elle let her fall dead to the ground, and in a moment of enlightenment before she died, Claire had never felt so alive. When her powers brought her back, quickly as Elle’s electricity still coursed through her, Claire was smiling, feeling the pain ache all over her body as her skin and nerves healed themselves back to their original forms.
She coughed, and Elle was still standing over her, staring at her with awe.
Slowly, Claire rose from the ground, grinning at her through blackened skin as it healed before Elle’s eyes. Elle stepped back, huddling against the wall as Claire recovered, coming toward her.
“Claire, listen, I didn’t mean...I’m sorry I killed you. Things got out of control...” Elle swallowed hard as Claire came for her, grinning with madness. “Claire?”
Claire grabbed her, pulled Elle against her body, and found the woman’s surprised lips. For an instant, Claire felt Elle push into her kiss, returning her fervor until she broke away, shocked with realization.
“What the hell?” Elle asked her, and Claire released a heavy sigh and fell onto Elle’s cot, smiling and looking up at the ceiling. Elle peered down at her curiously. “Have you lost your mind, Pom-Pom?”
Claire giggled - actually giggled, a sound she hadn’t heard come out of her mouth in years.
“I thought it was gone. I thought...I could never feel anything again,” Claire said, and she turned to Elle, who paled as Claire turned sincere. “Thank you.”
Everything was hazy when Claire left Elle’s cell that evening. She was too enamored that she had regained her feeling for pain again, and Elle had been the cause. Claire had also kissed the woman out of pure elation, something she couldn’t ever take back.
She could barely even admit it herself that she had growing feelings for Elle. Once they had been feelings of hate and obsession, but now they were something else. Claire didn’t know exactly what her evolved feelings meant yet, but she wasn’t going to give Elle up now.
Claire knew she didn’t want to torture Elle anymore, but she wouldn’t let Nathan know that. She would still have her, and she would still be grateful for what Elle had done for her, even if it hadn’t been intentional.
Despite all this, Claire still had work to do. She had to kill Peter, and she also had to make Nathan believe that she had everything under control.
xxxxx
Chapter Nine: Turning Point
Title: The Devil and Her Treasures
Author: paynesgrey
Artist: rebelle_elle
Word Count: 23,514
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Claire, Peter, Sylar, Elle, Noah Jr, Nathan, Rene, Danko, Knox, Daphne, Claire/Elle, Elle/Sylar, past Peter/Claire
Warnings character death, manipulation, implied incest, torture, violence, sexual situations
Notes: Written for heroes_bigboom. A huge thanks goes to bellonablack for the beta job. This is a sequel to my other fic, Grave New World, and takes place in the "exposed future" around the events of the “Second Coming” and “I am Become Death” episodes, as well as the “Resistance” online graphic novel chapter 106 (which I would recommend reading if you want some early chapters to make sense).
Summary: Renowned terrorist Peter Petrelli has been hiding Sylar, Elle and their son for a long time after Noah Bennet’s death, and when Pinehearst Agent Claire Bennet finally discovers them, they strike a deal to leave Sylar and his son alone, as long as Elle becomes Claire’s prisoner.
Link to art master post: HERE.
The Devil and Her Treasures
Chapter Eight: Tipping the Tightrope
When Claire relayed her report on Peter’s plans to Nathan, he didn’t seem concerned. Claire found it odd; if she knew someone was planning on changing the future by meddling with the past, she’d be worried, and if it were her call, she would have snatched up the nearest time-space manipulator that money could buy and send him after Peter.
Nathan, however, didn’t do that. “He’ll destroy the past all on his own more than he’ll destroy our present,” Nathan said confidently. Claire scoffed.
“How could you be so sure?” Claire asked him, sliding off his desk and pacing around his office again.
“We’re still here, aren’t we? Time is still the same,” Nathan said, rubbing his chin. “No, whatever my brother intended to do in the past, well, he hasn’t succeeded yet.”
“He said he was going to stop you...from telling everyone,” Claire said, furrowing her brow. “How could he do that?”
Nathan met her gaze, and Claire felt as though she might have been wrong about Nathan’s lack of concern. Within his eyes she could see some discomfort, and she wondered if he really did know what Peter was up to. Either way, he was right for now. Time hadn’t changed, and the harsh reality was that Peter was gone - in time somewhere, which meant Claire was even further away from getting her hands on Elle.
She sighed heavily when silence signaled the end of their conversation and she headed for the door. “I’ll keep you posted if he shows up again. I have my best agents stationed at that hangar, as well as his usual hangouts.”
Before he could acknowledge her, Claire was already out his door. She marched through Pinehearst toward the nearest basement elevator. She only had one place to go on her mind.
xxxxx
When Claire arrived, Elle shot her a smile that she expected her. Immediately she teased her, and Claire stood with her back against the wall, staring at Elle with a frown.
“See? I told you that we didn’t know anything about Peter’s plans. I heard a guard talking down here. Did he really go back in time?”
“You know he did,” Claire grumbled at her. “He’s gone.”
Elle snickered at her. “Sucks for you!”
Claire didn’t say a word. She stood silently against the wall, watching Elle, imagining what she would do to her if she could get her hands on her. It was easier to indulge herself this way.
(Claire always liked to use knives on her prisoners, cutting a single slash against their pristine skin for every life they expelled, watching as their blood dribbled onto the metal slab. However, Claire supposed Elle was immune to such torture, and perhaps the only thing that would affect her is the constant dowsing of water where her powers would short out, sporadically shocking and burning her without control.)
When Claire’s mind wandered elsewhere, Elle got the hint Claire’s attention was lost, so instead she sat against her wall staring back at her, as both women were consumed in silence and their own thoughts.
Claire’s thoughts were easy - she’d seen it so clear in her mind since Elle arrived as a prisoner of Pinehearst. She’d tie her up, draw a hood over her face, and give her an old fashion water boarding. Meanwhile, the water would mix with her stress, causing her powers to go wild. Elle would feel the pain and electricity course through her body, starting at her lips where the water was slowly drowning her.
Claire smirked. She wondered if Elle’s father had even thought of that one.
xxxxx
Peter was still missing, so Claire had made a habit of visiting Elle every day she could, leaning against the wall an indulging in her fantasies. Elle would try to speak to her, but Claire would hardly indulge her with anything more than a one word answer and a smile.
Soon, Elle would give up and watch her with fascination as Claire continued to torture the girl only in her mind.
Claire considered it more of a to-do list really. A very well thought out to-do list.
xxxxx
Day after day of trading a few barbs with Elle and staring at her with sick fascination, it didn’t occur to Claire that she was more than enjoying this set-up. Even if she couldn’t touch Elle, she could at least let her imagination run wild.
It became more than a daydream of torture for her. Claire was finding herself haunted by Elle in her dreams.
“The guards whisper about you, you know,” Elle said, bringing her out of her thoughts one day. Claire glowered at her, but Elle knew she was paying attention. She grinned at Claire, placing her palms against the glass and giving the former cheerleader a sultry smile. “They told me you switched sides and started liking women. How cute is that? Although, I always had a feeling.”
Claire watched as Elle’s hand moved to one of her breasts underneath her gray prison garb. She squeezed, and Claire stared, suddenly licking her lips. Elle laughed with delight.
“I knew it,” she said with a whistle. “So that’s what you’re doing when you’re standing there staring at me like a creeper.”
“You should be used to creepers, since you married one,” Claire shot back at her. Elle’s laughter increased in volume.
“Oh, I hit a nerve! So, is that all you got, Pom-Pom?”
“Screw you,” Claire grumbled, and she could hear Elle’s satisfied laughter as she marched away back to the elevator, cutting her time short by an hour that day.
xxxxx
And so Elle haunted her, in her dreams, in her wandering thoughts at work. Elle’s alluring and sadistic smile would flash before Claire’s mind in moments on the job, when she was bagging a villain and then they laughed at her - just as Elle would - knowing she couldn’t have her, knowing that she could only touch her within her mind.
Claire didn’t want to sleep, but she knew she needed it. She wasn’t a machine despite what other Pinehearst agents thought of her. But she knew if she slept she’d find Elle in her mind, inviting and tempting.
In her dreams, Elle would let Claire touch her, possess her, and hand her the water jug that Claire would use to torture her.
xxxxx
The darkness was heavy, not suffocating like a muggy day, but soft and comforting like a warm blanket. Claire licked the sweat on her lips, and she felt a female body shift around her. A tongue was sliding all over her - on her breasts, teasing and tugging at her nipples until they pebbled under her hot breath. She felt the woman move below, licking her, sucking the heat between her thighs as Claire jerked and shuddered under her head. Claire hadn’t felt like that for anyone in a long time. Claire couldn’t even believe she could feel.
Claire let out a ragged breath, feeling the woman slide into a spot beside her, kissing her and tracing her fingers down Claire’s arm.
She opened her eyes slowly, seeing a red haze wash over her as a white light blinked at her. In the background, an alarm roared around them as people scrambled outside.
“Now we’ve done it,” said a woman next to her. The voice was cocky and seemingly unstable, undoubtedly belonging to Elle. She was laughing, like she always did in Claire’s dreams. “We’re bringing the whole place down.”
“No,” Claire said, and she felt a hand on her face, stroking lovingly. Then, Elle patted her cheek with an electric pulse at her fingertips, grazing over Claire’s flesh.
“Yes,” she whispered against her skin. Claire felt a kiss there, and her body ached for Elle’s continued touch.
Claire turned toward her, and Elle propped herself on an elbow, giving Claire a cheeky look. “Now, Pom-Pom, finish what you started.”
Claire exhaled another heavy breath. Just what had she started? Elle’s smile faded, and her stare was stern. “Kill me, or they’ll never going to believe that you weren’t responsible for this.”
“For what?” Claire asked desperately. And why would she kill Elle? Yes, she’d imagined it so many times, but here, in this dream, she was horrified by the concept. If Elle could make her feel, why would she want to ever destroy that?
“For letting me escape,” Elle said, and she leaned in close. “Because you love me.” The woman pressed a soft kiss to Claire’s lips. “You idiot.”
xxxxx
Claire jolted awake, disturbed by the remnants of her dreams still buzzing within her mind. She rubbed her hand over her arms, trying to capture the phantom touch of Elle’s fingers that had been all over her skin - as if she could ever feel such a way again.
Why dream of Elle like that? When did she ever have such feelings for the woman? All her life knowing her she’d only ever disliked Elle. Elle had done so many terrible things to her and her family. Claire could only reason that someone like Elle needed to pay, to suffer like the criminal psychotic that she was.
So why dream such a dream?
And why did the feelings of a dream seem so real when they were not?
xxxxx
Claire didn’t visit Elle for a couple of days. She drove herself busy with work, and Nathan had called her to question the change in her.
“I thought I heard reports of Peter,” she said distantly.
Nathan didn’t say anything, and Claire could sense the scrutiny in his eyes.
“Are you feeling alright?” Nathan asked, and Claire hated that he almost sounded concerned. She shot him a furious, insulted look.
“I’m fine,” she seethed, and she turned from his office and went straight for the shooting range. She couldn’t visit Elle, not after a dream like that, so she had to find a different outlet for her stress.
xxxxx
When Claire finally braved visiting Elle, she found the woman sleeping. Claire made no motion to wake her, but she did stay to watch her.
She heard her mumbling in her sleep, and when she heard Elle murmur her son’s name, she felt almost ashamed as conflicted feelings rose to the surface.
As tears trailed from Elle’s slumbering eyes, Claire frowned when she felt an expected pinch in her chest, and finally, she decided to leave Elle alone.
xxxxx
The next time, Claire almost lost all her new-found sympathy for the woman when Elle started seducing her. Elle seemed to think this would work, and she even bargained to do anything Claire wanted; they didn’t have to tell the guard, as long as Elle could be free to see her son.
“I’ll do anything,” she said, palms and lips against the glass. “Please, I know you want it.” Claire narrowed her eyes at Elle.
As Claire walked away, she shook her head in shame.
Not at Elle, but at herself. Claire couldn’t believe she was actually tempted.
xxxxx
Weeks had gone by and there was still no sign of Peter. Claire still visited Elle, but she was too afraid to indulge in her fantasies of torturing the girl. She didn’t even know if she really wanted to torture Elle anymore, at least not as horribly as she had initially intended.
Instead, she leaned against the wall and listened to Elle ramble. Mostly she talked about her husband and son. When she talked about Sylar, Claire grew angry and Elle laughed at her hatred toward him.
“I hated him once too,” Elle said with a sigh. “I don’t know what changed, but one day, I suddenly didn’t hate him anymore. Maybe it was Noah.”
Claire pursed her lips. “You named your son after my dad.”
Elle turned to her and nodded. “Your father saved our lives.”
Claire sneered at her. “And then, like his house, you take his name too,” she spat. “You two don’t deserve anything from him, not his memory, not his name. Nothing.”
Elle turned from Claire’s hateful gaze and stared at the ceiling. “Maybe you’re right, Pom-Pom. But we had to do something for him. Noah Bennet had changed us.”
When Elle turned back to her captor, Claire was gone, but she heard her footsteps marching down the basement halls.
xxxxx
The more Claire visited Elle during Peter’s disappearance, the angrier Claire had become. She was letting Elle get to her while the woman rambled on and Claire did nothing but feel ashamed for wanting to the torture her, despite knowing the true origin of her desires.
Claire wanted to control Elle - absolutely, so much that it had become an obsession, and the more Claire obsessed, the more her dreams haunted her at having Elle - loving and touching her with tenderness.
She couldn’t stop from visiting her either. Even Nathan had lengthened Claire’s allocated visitation times, and he trusted his daughter enough to release the guard. Claire kept her word she wouldn’t torture her, and she supposed her dwindling bloodlust for Elle was an obvious influence in his decision.
Once Elle realized they would be alone without guards, her mocking and flirting only increased. She always approached Claire with her uniform buttons open, her breasts exposed when the material shifted as she moved. Claire couldn’t help but stare; Elle was right. Claire was attracted to her, and she couldn’t help but look when Elle’s breasts were right there in front of her.
“You really think that’s going to work on me?” Claire asked her, and Elle grinned. Claire stalked into Elle’s cell, challenging her to do more. Elle fell back on her cot, looking up at a Claire invitingly. She patted a spot beside her on the cot, but Claire didn’t budge. She just towered over Elle and glared sourly at her.
“You look, don’t you? Pervert. What would my husband say if he knew you were looking at me like this?” Elle mocked.
“What would he say to you trying to whore your way out of prison?” Claire asked with a snort.
Elle shrugged. “He would understand if he knew I was doing it so I could see my son. But I’m not going to see him, am I? I’ll probably be dead before I see Noah go to his first day at school.” Elle frowned, lost in the thoughts of her son.
“Probably, or your psychotic husband will kill him first,” Claire said bluntly, and Elle snapped her head to Claire with fury.
“Shut up! Gabriel would never hurt Noah!” Elle screamed at her.
“Whatever. Once a murderer, always a murderer,” Claire said flippantly, and Elle had shot up from her cot, coming toe-to-toe with Claire again.
Claire froze, and she noticed Elle’s fists clenched at her sides with electricity already buzzing in her palms.
“You just don’t get it, do you? You of all people should know better to make such judgments!” Elle said. “People can change! Gabriel and I did, and we had a son. They tortured us and made us parents, and we took responsibility. We were responsible and we could have lived happily if it weren’t for you! You’re the one who changed the most! Poor little Claire Bennet! Her real daddy didn’t love her, and her other daddy shipped her off to run with her uncle, but then he died because he saved peoples’ lives, people poor Claire didn’t like! Boo hoo! Let’s pity the poor cheerleader some more!”
“Stop it,” Claire seethed at her, trying to control her rage. No one, not even Nathan, had mentioned Noah Bennet to her in a long time. No one had even dared and they knew better too. Whatever emotions Claire held back to kill Elle were gone now. Claire wanted to rip her head off, and there was no guard in sight.
Elle stepped closer, grabbing Claire’s wrist. Claire’s eyes widened. “No,” Elle said. “You need to hear the truth. You may have changed into the perfect Pinehearst agent, but to me you are still the pathetic little girl who needs protecting. How does that sound? You think I’m a murderer, and I still think you’re a pathetic weakling!”
Fire shot through Claire’s body before she could move. Elle’s grip was steadfast, and Claire could feel it - all of Elle’s anger surging through her body in a stream of a thousand deadly volts. When Claire sensed that her body on the verge of death, she felt something switch back on inside her. Looking down, her skin was charred and burnt, but that didn’t faze her. What struck her is that Claire could feel - she could feel the horrible pain again. Whatever Sylar had taken away all those years ago, Elle’s surging rage had switched it back, and Claire knew it the moment she felt her own heart stop from the stress.
Elle let her fall dead to the ground, and in a moment of enlightenment before she died, Claire had never felt so alive. When her powers brought her back, quickly as Elle’s electricity still coursed through her, Claire was smiling, feeling the pain ache all over her body as her skin and nerves healed themselves back to their original forms.
She coughed, and Elle was still standing over her, staring at her with awe.
Slowly, Claire rose from the ground, grinning at her through blackened skin as it healed before Elle’s eyes. Elle stepped back, huddling against the wall as Claire recovered, coming toward her.
“Claire, listen, I didn’t mean...I’m sorry I killed you. Things got out of control...” Elle swallowed hard as Claire came for her, grinning with madness. “Claire?”
Claire grabbed her, pulled Elle against her body, and found the woman’s surprised lips. For an instant, Claire felt Elle push into her kiss, returning her fervor until she broke away, shocked with realization.
“What the hell?” Elle asked her, and Claire released a heavy sigh and fell onto Elle’s cot, smiling and looking up at the ceiling. Elle peered down at her curiously. “Have you lost your mind, Pom-Pom?”
Claire giggled - actually giggled, a sound she hadn’t heard come out of her mouth in years.
“I thought it was gone. I thought...I could never feel anything again,” Claire said, and she turned to Elle, who paled as Claire turned sincere. “Thank you.”
Everything was hazy when Claire left Elle’s cell that evening. She was too enamored that she had regained her feeling for pain again, and Elle had been the cause. Claire had also kissed the woman out of pure elation, something she couldn’t ever take back.
She could barely even admit it herself that she had growing feelings for Elle. Once they had been feelings of hate and obsession, but now they were something else. Claire didn’t know exactly what her evolved feelings meant yet, but she wasn’t going to give Elle up now.
Claire knew she didn’t want to torture Elle anymore, but she wouldn’t let Nathan know that. She would still have her, and she would still be grateful for what Elle had done for her, even if it hadn’t been intentional.
Despite all this, Claire still had work to do. She had to kill Peter, and she also had to make Nathan believe that she had everything under control.
xxxxx
Chapter Nine: Turning Point