Fic: One More Battle of Wits (Mohinder, Sylar, PG-13, gen)

[squills]

Title: One More Battle of Wits
Rating: PG-13
Words: 2800
Characters: Mohinder, Sylar
Warnings: Violence, off-screen character deaths
Spoilers: Through 1.20, "Five Years Gone"
Disclaimer: Not my characters, not writing this for profit.
A/N: This is written for the

Comments

[levitatethis]

Oh man, where do I begin?

A battle of wits and wills, coming down to the two people whose relationship I find the most fascinating. The superpowered and the mere mortal. It's poetic.

You've really gotten mindfuck!Sylar down pat. He knows all the right buttons to hit and he does it by using the truth which makes it all the harder to argue against. That isn't to say Mohinder would lie down and take it, but Sylar manages to throw him off balance using logic and the way people in general function, flaws and all.

By pointing out that extinction was Mohinder's idea (as off the cuff an idea as it was) and that Nathan would have followed through with it had he lived, by reminding Mohinder how the public will view him and how much of what Sylar was able to do was through relying on Mohinder and others to do what came naturally (so-to-speak) you really showcase Sylar's intuitive side without the big power show (besides his surviving the assassination attempt of course). He knows how to read people and use who they are against themselves and to his benefit.

I love that throughout this Mohinder is still trying to outthink him, fight back in some way. That's so Mohinder and sometimes that can get forgotten in the fanfic world. Mohinder is a fighter. He might not have powers but he is more than willing to go the distance. It's both an incredible strength and a potentially deadly weakness, but it's something I admire in him. He tries to argue his own points and doesn't give up as Sylar piles this destruction upn him.

One of my favourite parts is when Sylar says that Mohinder never giving up, always fighting, is what he loves most about him and then Mohinder responds with loving the fact that Sylar constantly underestimates him. Both are facts for me and display themselves in the intensity with which they deal with each other...there's also something so incredibly personal about the exchange...as if in the end it will (always) comes down to the two of them, winner take all.

The ending has this amusing (although scary for Mohinder) suggestiveness to Sylar's comment and it beautifully leads into Mohinder trying NOT to think (meaning, he's already got his game brain on).

I feel a real sense of equality here even if it's mostly Sylar speaking/taunting. Mohinder's responses keep him on a balanced footing even if his mind is all over the place.

This is one of my favourite general Mohinder/Sylar fics because it really seems to catch their essence.

[squills]

Thank you! :0) I started this about 6 weeks ago and I can't remember now what sparked it, but during the writing I kept thinking about what we saw in canon: that for whatever reason, Sylar kept Mohinder close, and worked hard to keep Mohinder actively involved in his plans. So I tried hard to keep this as much in the spirit of canon as possible.

I know some people have seen that episode as Sylar trying to corrupt Mohinder for the perverse pleasure of destroying him, but I see it more as an outgrowth of his "destiny" speech in Montana. Sylar needs someone around to appreciate his specialness, and they do have that odd kinship: I think Sylar really did want to try to force Mohinder to be on his side, even if it's unwillingly and under duress. The problem, of course, is that Mohinder will always fight.

Even though Sylar keeps piling it on, I still feel like there is some hope for Mohinder. Even though the events of "Powerless" didn't happen in this universe, we still know Mohinder is more than capable of outsmarting him. Plus, if Sylar wins and breaks him, he wouldn't be the same person; and of course if Mohinder wins, Sylar would be dead. Sylar enjoys this game for the game's sake, but on a deeper level, I think he'd prolong the game as long as possible because neither of those outcomes is what he wants. And there's where Mohinder has a chance, because Sylar will not only want to toy with him, he'll be trying to find ways to force Mohinder to behave the way he wants instead of crushing him...and sooner or later in that process, he'll give Mohinder too much of an opening.

I think I feel like they're fairly evenly matched too because Sylar has had months to think over possibilities and prepare strategies in case his secret comes out, but yet Mohinder does an excellent job of rallying to defy him.

The ending has this amusing (although scary for Mohinder) suggestiveness to Sylar's comment
This was a rare fic that never once threatened to detour into slash during the writing...but it's amazing how many things Sylar says that can be taken suggestively. The most obvious one, of course, is his emphasis on "all those NIGHTS", which he deliberately intended to imply that people will assume there must have been something going on between them, so there's yet another reason for Mohinder to keep his trap shut. But Mohinder, as he often does with Sylar, misses the implication because he's just trying to function.

I'm really glad that you liked this one!

(The weirdest thing about this fic? I don't know if anyone caught it, but the attempted assassin was Niki, come to get revenge for Peter despite her angry parting words with him. And I now find myself wanting to write a quick prequel to this, about what was going through her head as she waited for him to come back, and then discovered that he wasn't coming back.)

[levitatethis]

"Even though the events of "Powerless" didn't happen in this universe, we still know Mohinder is more than capable of outsmarting him. Plus, if Sylar wins and breaks him, he wouldn't be the same person; and of course if Mohinder wins, Sylar would be dead. Sylar enjoys this game for the game's sake, but on a deeper level, I think he'd prolong the game as long as possible because neither of those outcomes is what he wants. And there's where Mohinder has a chance, because Sylar will not only want to toy with him, he'll be trying to find ways to force Mohinder to behave the way he wants instead of crushing him...and sooner or later in that process, he'll give Mohinder too much of an opening."

I agree with this sentiment. The fight, the struggle, the back and forth is as much an intentionally drawn out characteristic of their relationship as anything else. Sylar wants Mohinder to be under his thumb but he also wants Mohinder to see his own willingness to comply, he wants Mohinder to want to side with him. It allows for that loophole...and Mohinder is smart enough to find the opening. And the fight goes on. It's actually a thing of beauty. It's like they keep each other on their toes, constantly testing each other.

BTW I actually did guess that Niki was the unnamed assassin avenging Peter. I like that you didn't state it out loud.