(no subject)
Title: Subterfuge
Characters: Eden/Sylar
Rating: R for swearing.
Word Count: 1,560.
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summery: Eden is living next door to Chandra Suresh. She begins to suspect Sylar‘s involvement in his life.
Note: Sylar made it seem that Eden knew he couldn’t be hurt with bullets (in Fallout). This chapter is her being witness to this. First of a series of chapters.
The carriage was sweltering, people packed into it like sweaty, irritated sardines. Eden tried not to breath in too deeply, pressing her bare arm against the widow to try and find a way to cool herself down. She was infinitely glad that she just got her hair cut short, the previous weight of it being a nuisance in this weather. She held on tight to the railing as the train jerked along the rails, the lights occasionally flickering. Like a ghost train she thought.
She had done what Bennet had said, taken his daughter's name off the list and used her ability to make Chandra forget. She had gone out to get drunk afterwards. That had been some months ago, and the last time she had used her power. She felt healthy within herself for the first time in months, rejuvenated and eager. Gentle.
A pale, twitchy, grubby looking girl was flittering by the doors, set half way down in the compartment, hand nervously diving into her oversized coat then out again. Eden felt her stomach flop over. She moved back unconsciously into a broad chest behind her. Her fears came true as the girl suddenly pulled a revolver out and waved it at the seated passengers. The train was filled with shrieks and the sound of people making a mad dash away. Eden was buffeted by people running past her. Where they were stuck, plastered to the end of the carriage.
“Give me your damn money! Now!”
The lady seated in front of the robber froze, face a mask of almost comical shock, before shoving her bag at the girl. The girl flung it over her shoulder and jitter-bugging her way to the next seat. The big man in it already had his wallet out, looking mightily pissed.
“Listen here girly. As soon as this train stops at the next station, you get off. No trouble at all. Nice and easy. No one needs to get hurt. But be sure, you will get your ass beat down from on high one of these days!”
With that the man handed over his money with a contemptuous flick.
The girl looked surprised for a moment at he man’s bravado, then shrugged her bony shoulders roguishly. She moved to where Eden and others where huddled. Eden, feeling a sprinkle of unease, moved towards the gun girl.
“Look, you don’t need to take anymore. The next stop is coming up soon and everyone on here will be making for the doors. And that’s why I want you to give me the gun.” She moved closer slowly, someone pinching the back of her top behind her. Eden ignored them.
“It’s loaded you know!” She made it sound like she was carrying a bag full of candy, not something deadly and full of lethal lead.
“I’m sure it is, but like the man said: you have cash, no one has to be injured.” Eden kept her voice very low and soft, making the girl lean closer to her.
Eden was about to use her power, she could feel it floating around her mouth, when the carriage suddenly gave an almighty lurch, making everyone screech along with the haltering wheels. The train came to a jarring stop. Then the lights went out, plunging everyone in the darkness into sulphurous lime green ghouls. The screams and wails ricocheted off the metal walls.
The teenager was frozen, her eyes rolling around her sockets like a spooked horse. Eden straightened, her heart going ten for the dozen, and again moved to her. The person behind her had her top bunched in a fist now.
“It’s ok, it’s ok…just remain calm. Ok, now give me -”
“Fuck this! Fuck this shitty goddamn day! Look, whatever your name is, just put down the damn gun!”
The speaker was a forty-something woman, looking harassed and too hot. Eden was about to tell her to back off when the fat man from earlier stepped in.
“She looks like a fart would knock her over! She wouldn’t be able to take all of us. Do you hear that girl!? Now stop being a nuisance and drop the gun and give back the money!”
Eden couldn’t believe this was happening. She looked at the both of them in disbelief then back to the girl. She was shaking all over. She looked about fourteen. Eden felt sorry for her suddenly…and worried. The girl was on a horse-trigger.
“Listen to me, look at me, forget them. You’re going to relax ok? And you’re going to give me the gun!”
Whether she put to much emphasise in her command, or that the girl was already desperate to give it to her anyway, Eden wasn’t sure. She watched the girl whip her arm around like lightning towards her, relief already melting onto her features. The gun waved wildly around and the two irate passengers jumped her.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The gun blasts where absolutely, shockingly loud in such an enclosed space. Eden felt herself go deaf, but that was furthest from her thoughts as she felt a great force slamming her back from the front. Everyone around her crashed to the ground simultaneously.
Eden remained still, sure her heart had stopped before quickly running her hands over her chest, panic flaring up. She felt a pain in her arm when she moved it. There was round red mark on her forearm. She had been hit…But there was no blood. She was ok. Eden released a shaky breath, adrenaline cursing through her. She realised she was lying on someone and quickly sat up, her head going fuzzy. She rested her hand on the floor, feeling something dig into her skin, and looked back to see who she had been using as a bed.
Sylar.
Her eyes widened in shock and recognition. Her startled state only lasted for a few seconds before concern set in. He might have been shot. She got on her knees and called his name. And Eden felt one of the oddest sensations of her life. She couldn’t hear. She was speaking, words where coming out, but she was completely deaf. She gave up trying to speak and set about searching his clothes for signs of blood. She drew his t-shirt up but couldn’t see anything serious. She leaned back, the irritant digging into her hand again. She looked at her hand. There were bullets littering the ground next to it. Three of them. Eden blinked in confusion, bending down to pick one up. It was still hot between her fingers. They had been stopped! She quickly gripped her sore arm, wonder entering her eyes. She looked behind her to the heap of people groggily stirring on the floor.
Someone had stopped them all from getting hit. She stared back down at Sylar, suspicion colouring her face.
She had suspected he had a power as soon as she had met him. He was hanging around Chandra after all. But she had seen nothing to cause concern though. Well, not much. The man gave her the jitters that was for sure, the one time she had got into a conversation with him, asking what his relationship with Chandra was, his face had lightened. The kind of light that Eden expected zealot missionary members heading into the wilds must have. He was flushed with excitement when talking about what he and Chandra could achieve with their study of genetics. Eden thought it best to just politely nod and not provoke him. Because Eden had got the distinct impression that he was, well…jealous of her. Of her spending time with Chandra, time that should be his she felt. He was an unsettling man, but still alluringly charismatic. Very attractive…
She was taken out of her thoughts when he started to stir beneath her, his hand going to the back of his head with a grimace. Eden quickly swiped up the bullets before anyone noticed, dropping them into her jeans. She would think on what to do about them later. About him.
When he opened his eyes he couldn’t seem to focus. Concussion, Eden thought. She was just about to inspect his head when the lights came back on, making her squint. The train began to move again. Even though she couldn’t hear, Eden bet there was a collective sigh of relief.
The teenager was underneath the angry lady, who was sitting on her. The man had the gun. Eden bet they already had their money back. The train had pulled into the station, which looked surprisingly normal, just a few people dotted around. As predicted, when the doors opened everyone made a haphazard stampede for them. The carriage was empty within seconds, the citizen arrest trio frog-marching out last. Eden suddenly felt someone looming behind her.
Sylar was leaning on a rail, still looking a little peaky. His eyes started to clear and Eden wanted to be gone. She didn’t want him to be suspicious of her, to suspect that she knew anything. She was undercover, just the girl adjacent with the crappy cooking skills. Fairly certain that he hadn’t yet recognised her and did not seem deathly hurt, she slipped out past the doors and into the blazing heat of the street above.
She would observe him closely. It was her job to do so.
And the man had saved her life.
Part Two here