Heroes fic: Exodus 3/4. Gen. PG-13
Title: Exodus
Author: Eustacia Vye
E-Mail: eutstacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Kring et al owns them all. I just like playing with other people's toys.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers/Warnings: Post "How to Stop an Exploding Man." Eventual mentions of Sylar activities and violence. The idea for this came after the Season 1 ending, but Real Life is hectic, and it's not complete until now. No spoilers to Season 2.
Summary: The Boogeyman isn't dead, but Molly may have found someone that can help them get away from the Boogeyman.
Exodus
Part 1 - Setting the Stage
Part 2 - Mounting Tensions
Mohinder Suresh was waiting outside of the office building later that week. Molly had told Madison that he was outside of the building, so she wasn't surprised. Molly was the last appointment of the day, and had insisted on staying with Madison while she locked up. "I want to be like you someday," Molly confided, a sweet smile on her face. She insisted on carrying Madison's laptop bag, knowing that all of the clinic's patient files were on it. "Is it hard being a doctor? Can I be a hero like you?"
"Well, you're a smart girl. Once you settle down someplace, you should be able to do just fine."
"I need to find the next good place, then," Molly said, nodding. "Nothing's coming up right now."
"I guess you need a little more time with me, then."
Molly handed over the laptop bag and got into the passenger seat. "I don't mind that," she said.
"You don't mind what?" Mohinder asked.
"Staying," Molly chirped.
Mohinder watched Madison shoulder her bag and turn toward her car. "Dr. Vincent, can I have a moment to speak with you?"
She could feel the curiosity emanating from blocks away. Sighing, she turned. "It's been a long day," she began.
"I understand," Mohinder said hastily, holding up a hand. He stepped closer and pitched his voice lower. "There are questions I'd like to ask you. Niki told me about the session you had with her earlier this week..."
"That's certainly her prerogative, but I won't violate doctor-patient confidentiality..."
"No, nothing like that. I've been doing research..."
Madison's demeanor instantly froze over. "I'm aware of your research, Dr. Suresh."
"Wouldn't you want to discover the extent of it? Your children may benefit?
"They are the best mistake I ever made," Madison began, voice harsh. "And as a result, I am ever more vigilant about making future mistakes. I won't participate in your study, Doctor."
"This is invaluable research..." Mohinder felt a tremor of dread begin to curl in his stomach. He looked at her in wonder. "But Dr. Vincent..."
"Doctor, I will not be part of your study. I already know exactly what I can do. It's called empathy, Doctor. I can feel and project emotions. That's all. Nothing flashy, nothing that anyone should ever know about it. It's invaluable in my practice, but that's the extent of it."
"You counsel others," Mohinder began earnestly. By the way her jaw tightened, he instantly knew that he had made a mistake.
"You will not come after my practice, do you understand?"
"If you can just mention the research... Maybe I can help them..."
"Doctor, we were here before you ever thought to take your research to this country." Her lips pressed into a grim line at the sight of his surprise. "I've read your father's book. It's brilliant, and entirely too prescient for the country's level of comfort. You'd start a panic, Doctor Suresh. And in the midst of that panic, there could be no exodus. Thousands-- because you know there's going to be thousands of us-- are going to be killed. Take a step back and think about that becoming a reality. What people don't understand gets destroyed. I'm not going to be part of it, and I have done what I can for my patients."
"Doctor..."
"Don't push," Madison snapped. "I don't abuse my skills, but trust me, I can if I need to."
Mohinder's jaws snapped shut with a click. She wasn't anything like Zane... rather, like the Zane that Sylar pretended to be. She was more like Dale, come to think of it. Dale had been very comfortable with what she could do, and had come up with her own means of coping. Dale hadn't needed him any more than Madison did.
"I'm sorry I bothered you," Mohinder said with a final nod. "We'll stay as long as you need to see Molly and Niki. After that, we'll leave."
Madison nodded. "All right, then. Good night."
Mohinder watched Madison walk away, then got into the car next to Molly. "Well, that didn't go so well."
She shrugged. "There's others, you know. Some aren't comfortable like she is. And anyway, Niki must have changed her mind. She's not at the hotel anymore. She went to that diner. Maybe we should meet her there?"
Mohinder started the car and drove toward the diner. Molly began to sing along to the radio, her voice off-key. He found himself smiling in spite of his frustration.
***
"I told you they were bad news," Brian warned. He looked over at Darcy and his girlfriend Gina, who was a nurse at the local hospital. "I think Maddy's let her doctor self take over too quickly on this one. Sam told us that it was only a matter of time before Suresh caught wind of any of us, and now he's on to Maddy."
"She's going to pitch a hissy fit if she knew you were talking about her this way," Gina warned.
"I know. She's taken them on as patients anyway. Now there's twelve of them we have to worry about, plus the other three that came into town."
"So now what?" Darcy asked, leaning back in his chair. "I know we're ready for anything."
"Sam doesn't have access into the files anymore," Brian groused. "I'd like to know if Sylar's really dead or not. The girl said he had been stabbed. Of course everything else has been taken down off of the FBI database."
"So we have to operate without it. It's not like we don't already have our own warning system," Darcy reminded him.
Brian shook his head. "She doesn't look well. If Annika ever gets sick, our warning system will never be able to work properly."
"Then we just have to let our people know and move them sooner if we have to," Gina replied, shrugging. "If Sylar's tracking Suresh, it's only a matter of time before he gets here if he's still alive." She looked from Brian's drawn face to Darcy's hopeful one. "We said we'd protect them, right? So we just step up the exodus if we have to."
Brian rubbed at his face. "I just... I know this, but I can't help but feel like Maddy's caught up in the middle of this and she shouldn't be."
Darcy started laughing. "Brian, none of us should be. But if we're going to protect you and Maddy, we're going to protect them all. That's it."
Brian leaned back in his chair and smiled wanly at Darcy. "You're a good friend, Darcy."
"Of course I am. And when you and Maddy finally have kids, you are naming it after me."
"Good thing you have a gender neutral name," Brian teased. Gina laughed outright as Darcy mock-glowered him. "All right, all right. I'll stop worrying. For now, at least. Annika hasn't called either of us on anything. I just get this feeling..."
"Stop it," Darcy teased. "That's Maddy's job."
Brian laughed and stood up. "All right, you two. Get out of my office and let me work for a change. You've got other lives to save."
"Damn right," Gina chirped. She grinned at Brian and waved brightly. "See you later."
The smile on Brian's face slowly died as they left. Whatever they said, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong.
Please God, wherever you are, please just let this end well.
***
"He's here."
Mohinder looked over at Molly. They were sitting in the park, waiting for it to be dinnertime. They had promised to meet the others for dinner, and they had taken the car into town to get new clothes for everyone. Molly had been tired that morning, and hadn't wanted to go out. Now she turned her wide eyes to him, and she looked terrified.
"Molly? Who's here?"
"The Boogeyman. He found us. He can't do what I do, but he found us."
Her terror was palpable. "We need to find the others."
Mohinder watched as Molly's attention shifted. "They're driving down Main Street. They must have finished early and are going back to the hotel."
"Then that's where we need to be." He grasped her hand firmly. "We'll get out of here, Molly. Don't worry. We're going to be safe."
"The others here won't be."
Mohinder didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about anything right now, actually. Molly had just started to come out of her shell, too. The small town had lulled him into a sense of security, and now his panic was back in full force.
Why couldn't Sylar just stay dead?
***
The house was just at the end of a cul-de-sac, with pretty white flowers nestled against the fence and pink ones in the boxes hung outside the windows. It looked exactly like the painting should have looked, if Sylar had used paint and not excrement.
He knocked on the door, and was startled to see an older woman answer the door. He had expected to see Mohinder Suresh, and had expected to have the joy of crushing his windpipe and throwing him across the room with telepathy.
"Hello," he murmured, nodding his head.
"Ah," the woman replied, eyeing him. "Were you expecting to see someone else? Are you Alison's cousin? She moved out a few months ago, I'm afraid. She didn't tell me where."
Confused, Sylar allowed the woman to draw him into the home. It was quaint, with classic countryside touches. "It's very nice here," he said, watching the woman. She was reaching for the phone. "Are you calling someone?"
"Oh, I was about to call my niece. I think she may have Alison's number."
Sylar looked at the pictures on the wall politely as the woman made her phone call. It was easy to hear the conversation even though he tried to distract himself. "Hello, dear. So lovely to catch you before you go away on your trip." He pursed his lips and looked at the shelves of books. There was a broken clock on one shelf, the kind encased in a glass dome. Its gears had long since stopped moving, and it was likely kept just for show. He could find the error, of course. It wasn't hard to tease out. The gears had been loose, then stuck together with grime. "I'm having a guest for tea, of course. My special blend. I just wanted to speak with you beforehand and wish you well. Oh, and do you have Alison's number?"
Sylar put the clock back as the woman hung up. "You don't have to give me tea."
"Oh, don't be silly. I don't get visitors often. Why don't we make an occasion of it?"
His mother hated visitors and hated surprises. This woman ran completely counter to what he was used to, and he somehow found himself being drawn into her easy smile. He found himself smiling back, more like Gabriel than Sylar, and sat down at the sunny kitchen table. He watched her take out the delicate porcelain cups and pull the kettle from the stove where it had been warming up. "Would you like oatmeal as well? I was about to have some."
"It's afternoon," Sylar reminded her.
"Well, it's still almost dinnertime for me, and that is so much easier to make." She held up her hands in front of him, displaying her gnarled knuckles. "A seamstress long ago, you know. It does quite the number on your hands." She laughed as easily as she had with the niece on the phone, and Sylar was disconcerted. He wasn't used to this kind of casual acceptance.
She set out two bowls of oatmeal and two cups of tea. They smelled like almonds, with a bitter edge to it. "Thank you," he replied, more to have something to say. Something didn't feel right about the situation, the easy smile she kept giving him. It was almost too reassuring, and he could feel that there was something wrong with her. Something was off in her time, a subtle shake in her voice and tremor in her hands.
Her heart tripped once, a frightened triple beat as she picked up her cup of tea. "To our health," she toasted sweetly.
Sylar lifted his cup but did not drink from it. He left the cup at his lips, the liquid never spilling over the edge of porcelain. The scent of bitter almonds was strong, almost nauseatingly so. He watched as the old woman tipped the entire cup of tea into her mouth, drinking almost greedily. Her hand shook as she put the cup down on the saucer, then lifted the spoon of oatmeal to her mouth. Her eyes watered, and she looked up, suddenly aware that Sylar hadn't put the cup back down on the table.
It was still full when it was settled back down on the saucer.
"Drink up," she rasped, trying to smile. It came out more like a grimace.
Sylar abruptly stood up, knocking over his chair. His memory ticked over the evidence, and it came into sharp relief. "Cyanide," he hissed.
He watched the woman die, feeling no pity for the pain she endured. She brought it on herself, really. He wasn't even here for the old woman. He had no idea who she was, or why she would have wanted to poison herself and take him with her.
His eyes narrowed as he contemplated this. The cyanide in her system would render her useless to him. If she had a power, he would never be able to take it now. He couldn't risk poisoning himself just to get at some unknown power. It had to be some form of precognition, something that would allow her to recognize him.
She had to be warning someone. Someone with another power, someone she cared for. He didn't think it was really a niece now, but it was still someone that she cared about deeply. Whatever her name was, she had just made a huge tactical error. He would never have bothered looking after this woman's kin. He never would have even stayed if not for her backward ploy to detain him and poison him. He would have passed her by, not even thinking she had a power. There was no sense about her, and she hadn't been on Suresh's list.
Who else was out there that wasn't on his list? He would never be able to find them now. The program was destroyed, and he was rapidly running out of names to go after. If Suresh was around, Sylar would have cheerfully throttled him.
He found the old woman's phone. She even had a recall button on it. He hit the button, and watched the number spool forth on the display. It rang, but no one picked up. The voice mail kicked in. "Hi, it's Madison. Looks like we've missed each other. Tag, you're it! Leave a message and I'll get back to you." beep!
Sylar hung up the phone without leaving a message. Madison.
He tore through the living room until he found what looked like a personal address book. He flipped through it, comparing names and numbers to the number he had seen on the old woman's phone. He finally hit on it, finding an office, home and cell phone number. Addresses were written in a neat copperplate hand. It was still technically business hours, and this woman would be at work.
His lips stretched into a grimace of a smile.
"Tag. You're it."
***
Madison's last patient of the day canceled due to car trouble. She used the time to go through lab results and other paperwork, music playing softly behind her. It was a rare opportunity for her, as it meant she was likely going to go home early.
Her cell phone rang, startling her. She had forgotten to silence it, which wasn't like her. She picked it up and looked at the caller. Annika.
"Annika, what is it?" she asked, immediately concerned.
Annika's voice was light hearted. "Hello, dear." For a moment, Madison could feel herself calming down. Nothing new, then. "So lovely to catch you before you go away on your trip."
Fear curled in Madison's stomach. "What?" she whispered. The code.
Annika laughed, and Madison could hear the relief laced in it. She had been tired of the pain in her joints, tired of visions being displayed as nightmares. She enjoyed life, to be sure, but she wouldn't miss the painful aspects of it.
"I'm having a guest for tea, of course. My special blend. I just wanted to speak with you beforehand and wish you well. Oh, and do you have Alison's number?"
Madison's throat closed. This was it, then. "I'll look for it. I'll miss you, Annika."
Her laughter was genuine now. "Of course you will, dear. I expect to hear from you soon."
"Goodbye, Annika," Madison whispered, tears filling her eyes. Annika had been more of a mother to her than her own biological mother had been. This felt like tearing out a piece of her chest and throwing it away.
"Goodbye, dear. Be well."
And then she was gone.
Madison let the tears fall freely as she looked numbly at her phone. While they had planned it for a long time, she never thought the day would come when their emergency system would have to be used. It hurt.
She dialed a familiar number as she wiped at her eyes. "Hi, Jody. Is Brian in his office?" she asked with false cheerfulness. The police department secretary chatted with her for a minute, then passed her along to Brian.
"Maddy?"
"Exodus one through twelve. Now."
She hung up, not waiting for his response. She knew what would have to happen now. They all knew. Putting her phone in her pocket, she began shutting down her laptop. All of her patient notes were on it. That would have to be stored somewhere. The office fireproof safe was the first place to look. Her special patients' files were all coded, but it never hurt to be safe. There was the building's safe, which was harder to get to. It was in the basement, in a room next to the boiler. The deposits for the different buildings were stored there during the day, each office having a separate locked compartment within the room. That would be the perfect place.
She headed for the basement, mind on autopilot. Now was not the time for thinking. Now was the time to let instinct take over, to let the plan run its course.
The sky looked impossibly bright. Lightning cracked across the sky, even so.
Dread curled in her stomach, and she had nowhere to send it to.
***
***
Author: Eustacia Vye
E-Mail: eutstacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Kring et al owns them all. I just like playing with other people's toys.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers/Warnings: Post "How to Stop an Exploding Man." Eventual mentions of Sylar activities and violence. The idea for this came after the Season 1 ending, but Real Life is hectic, and it's not complete until now. No spoilers to Season 2.
Summary: The Boogeyman isn't dead, but Molly may have found someone that can help them get away from the Boogeyman.
Exodus
Part 1 - Setting the Stage
Part 2 - Mounting Tensions
Mohinder Suresh was waiting outside of the office building later that week. Molly had told Madison that he was outside of the building, so she wasn't surprised. Molly was the last appointment of the day, and had insisted on staying with Madison while she locked up. "I want to be like you someday," Molly confided, a sweet smile on her face. She insisted on carrying Madison's laptop bag, knowing that all of the clinic's patient files were on it. "Is it hard being a doctor? Can I be a hero like you?"
"Well, you're a smart girl. Once you settle down someplace, you should be able to do just fine."
"I need to find the next good place, then," Molly said, nodding. "Nothing's coming up right now."
"I guess you need a little more time with me, then."
Molly handed over the laptop bag and got into the passenger seat. "I don't mind that," she said.
"You don't mind what?" Mohinder asked.
"Staying," Molly chirped.
Mohinder watched Madison shoulder her bag and turn toward her car. "Dr. Vincent, can I have a moment to speak with you?"
She could feel the curiosity emanating from blocks away. Sighing, she turned. "It's been a long day," she began.
"I understand," Mohinder said hastily, holding up a hand. He stepped closer and pitched his voice lower. "There are questions I'd like to ask you. Niki told me about the session you had with her earlier this week..."
"That's certainly her prerogative, but I won't violate doctor-patient confidentiality..."
"No, nothing like that. I've been doing research..."
Madison's demeanor instantly froze over. "I'm aware of your research, Dr. Suresh."
"Wouldn't you want to discover the extent of it? Your children may benefit?
"They are the best mistake I ever made," Madison began, voice harsh. "And as a result, I am ever more vigilant about making future mistakes. I won't participate in your study, Doctor."
"This is invaluable research..." Mohinder felt a tremor of dread begin to curl in his stomach. He looked at her in wonder. "But Dr. Vincent..."
"Doctor, I will not be part of your study. I already know exactly what I can do. It's called empathy, Doctor. I can feel and project emotions. That's all. Nothing flashy, nothing that anyone should ever know about it. It's invaluable in my practice, but that's the extent of it."
"You counsel others," Mohinder began earnestly. By the way her jaw tightened, he instantly knew that he had made a mistake.
"You will not come after my practice, do you understand?"
"If you can just mention the research... Maybe I can help them..."
"Doctor, we were here before you ever thought to take your research to this country." Her lips pressed into a grim line at the sight of his surprise. "I've read your father's book. It's brilliant, and entirely too prescient for the country's level of comfort. You'd start a panic, Doctor Suresh. And in the midst of that panic, there could be no exodus. Thousands-- because you know there's going to be thousands of us-- are going to be killed. Take a step back and think about that becoming a reality. What people don't understand gets destroyed. I'm not going to be part of it, and I have done what I can for my patients."
"Doctor..."
"Don't push," Madison snapped. "I don't abuse my skills, but trust me, I can if I need to."
Mohinder's jaws snapped shut with a click. She wasn't anything like Zane... rather, like the Zane that Sylar pretended to be. She was more like Dale, come to think of it. Dale had been very comfortable with what she could do, and had come up with her own means of coping. Dale hadn't needed him any more than Madison did.
"I'm sorry I bothered you," Mohinder said with a final nod. "We'll stay as long as you need to see Molly and Niki. After that, we'll leave."
Madison nodded. "All right, then. Good night."
Mohinder watched Madison walk away, then got into the car next to Molly. "Well, that didn't go so well."
She shrugged. "There's others, you know. Some aren't comfortable like she is. And anyway, Niki must have changed her mind. She's not at the hotel anymore. She went to that diner. Maybe we should meet her there?"
Mohinder started the car and drove toward the diner. Molly began to sing along to the radio, her voice off-key. He found himself smiling in spite of his frustration.
***
"I told you they were bad news," Brian warned. He looked over at Darcy and his girlfriend Gina, who was a nurse at the local hospital. "I think Maddy's let her doctor self take over too quickly on this one. Sam told us that it was only a matter of time before Suresh caught wind of any of us, and now he's on to Maddy."
"She's going to pitch a hissy fit if she knew you were talking about her this way," Gina warned.
"I know. She's taken them on as patients anyway. Now there's twelve of them we have to worry about, plus the other three that came into town."
"So now what?" Darcy asked, leaning back in his chair. "I know we're ready for anything."
"Sam doesn't have access into the files anymore," Brian groused. "I'd like to know if Sylar's really dead or not. The girl said he had been stabbed. Of course everything else has been taken down off of the FBI database."
"So we have to operate without it. It's not like we don't already have our own warning system," Darcy reminded him.
Brian shook his head. "She doesn't look well. If Annika ever gets sick, our warning system will never be able to work properly."
"Then we just have to let our people know and move them sooner if we have to," Gina replied, shrugging. "If Sylar's tracking Suresh, it's only a matter of time before he gets here if he's still alive." She looked from Brian's drawn face to Darcy's hopeful one. "We said we'd protect them, right? So we just step up the exodus if we have to."
Brian rubbed at his face. "I just... I know this, but I can't help but feel like Maddy's caught up in the middle of this and she shouldn't be."
Darcy started laughing. "Brian, none of us should be. But if we're going to protect you and Maddy, we're going to protect them all. That's it."
Brian leaned back in his chair and smiled wanly at Darcy. "You're a good friend, Darcy."
"Of course I am. And when you and Maddy finally have kids, you are naming it after me."
"Good thing you have a gender neutral name," Brian teased. Gina laughed outright as Darcy mock-glowered him. "All right, all right. I'll stop worrying. For now, at least. Annika hasn't called either of us on anything. I just get this feeling..."
"Stop it," Darcy teased. "That's Maddy's job."
Brian laughed and stood up. "All right, you two. Get out of my office and let me work for a change. You've got other lives to save."
"Damn right," Gina chirped. She grinned at Brian and waved brightly. "See you later."
The smile on Brian's face slowly died as they left. Whatever they said, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong.
Please God, wherever you are, please just let this end well.
***
"He's here."
Mohinder looked over at Molly. They were sitting in the park, waiting for it to be dinnertime. They had promised to meet the others for dinner, and they had taken the car into town to get new clothes for everyone. Molly had been tired that morning, and hadn't wanted to go out. Now she turned her wide eyes to him, and she looked terrified.
"Molly? Who's here?"
"The Boogeyman. He found us. He can't do what I do, but he found us."
Her terror was palpable. "We need to find the others."
Mohinder watched as Molly's attention shifted. "They're driving down Main Street. They must have finished early and are going back to the hotel."
"Then that's where we need to be." He grasped her hand firmly. "We'll get out of here, Molly. Don't worry. We're going to be safe."
"The others here won't be."
Mohinder didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about anything right now, actually. Molly had just started to come out of her shell, too. The small town had lulled him into a sense of security, and now his panic was back in full force.
Why couldn't Sylar just stay dead?
***
The house was just at the end of a cul-de-sac, with pretty white flowers nestled against the fence and pink ones in the boxes hung outside the windows. It looked exactly like the painting should have looked, if Sylar had used paint and not excrement.
He knocked on the door, and was startled to see an older woman answer the door. He had expected to see Mohinder Suresh, and had expected to have the joy of crushing his windpipe and throwing him across the room with telepathy.
"Hello," he murmured, nodding his head.
"Ah," the woman replied, eyeing him. "Were you expecting to see someone else? Are you Alison's cousin? She moved out a few months ago, I'm afraid. She didn't tell me where."
Confused, Sylar allowed the woman to draw him into the home. It was quaint, with classic countryside touches. "It's very nice here," he said, watching the woman. She was reaching for the phone. "Are you calling someone?"
"Oh, I was about to call my niece. I think she may have Alison's number."
Sylar looked at the pictures on the wall politely as the woman made her phone call. It was easy to hear the conversation even though he tried to distract himself. "Hello, dear. So lovely to catch you before you go away on your trip." He pursed his lips and looked at the shelves of books. There was a broken clock on one shelf, the kind encased in a glass dome. Its gears had long since stopped moving, and it was likely kept just for show. He could find the error, of course. It wasn't hard to tease out. The gears had been loose, then stuck together with grime. "I'm having a guest for tea, of course. My special blend. I just wanted to speak with you beforehand and wish you well. Oh, and do you have Alison's number?"
Sylar put the clock back as the woman hung up. "You don't have to give me tea."
"Oh, don't be silly. I don't get visitors often. Why don't we make an occasion of it?"
His mother hated visitors and hated surprises. This woman ran completely counter to what he was used to, and he somehow found himself being drawn into her easy smile. He found himself smiling back, more like Gabriel than Sylar, and sat down at the sunny kitchen table. He watched her take out the delicate porcelain cups and pull the kettle from the stove where it had been warming up. "Would you like oatmeal as well? I was about to have some."
"It's afternoon," Sylar reminded her.
"Well, it's still almost dinnertime for me, and that is so much easier to make." She held up her hands in front of him, displaying her gnarled knuckles. "A seamstress long ago, you know. It does quite the number on your hands." She laughed as easily as she had with the niece on the phone, and Sylar was disconcerted. He wasn't used to this kind of casual acceptance.
She set out two bowls of oatmeal and two cups of tea. They smelled like almonds, with a bitter edge to it. "Thank you," he replied, more to have something to say. Something didn't feel right about the situation, the easy smile she kept giving him. It was almost too reassuring, and he could feel that there was something wrong with her. Something was off in her time, a subtle shake in her voice and tremor in her hands.
Her heart tripped once, a frightened triple beat as she picked up her cup of tea. "To our health," she toasted sweetly.
Sylar lifted his cup but did not drink from it. He left the cup at his lips, the liquid never spilling over the edge of porcelain. The scent of bitter almonds was strong, almost nauseatingly so. He watched as the old woman tipped the entire cup of tea into her mouth, drinking almost greedily. Her hand shook as she put the cup down on the saucer, then lifted the spoon of oatmeal to her mouth. Her eyes watered, and she looked up, suddenly aware that Sylar hadn't put the cup back down on the table.
It was still full when it was settled back down on the saucer.
"Drink up," she rasped, trying to smile. It came out more like a grimace.
Sylar abruptly stood up, knocking over his chair. His memory ticked over the evidence, and it came into sharp relief. "Cyanide," he hissed.
He watched the woman die, feeling no pity for the pain she endured. She brought it on herself, really. He wasn't even here for the old woman. He had no idea who she was, or why she would have wanted to poison herself and take him with her.
His eyes narrowed as he contemplated this. The cyanide in her system would render her useless to him. If she had a power, he would never be able to take it now. He couldn't risk poisoning himself just to get at some unknown power. It had to be some form of precognition, something that would allow her to recognize him.
She had to be warning someone. Someone with another power, someone she cared for. He didn't think it was really a niece now, but it was still someone that she cared about deeply. Whatever her name was, she had just made a huge tactical error. He would never have bothered looking after this woman's kin. He never would have even stayed if not for her backward ploy to detain him and poison him. He would have passed her by, not even thinking she had a power. There was no sense about her, and she hadn't been on Suresh's list.
Who else was out there that wasn't on his list? He would never be able to find them now. The program was destroyed, and he was rapidly running out of names to go after. If Suresh was around, Sylar would have cheerfully throttled him.
He found the old woman's phone. She even had a recall button on it. He hit the button, and watched the number spool forth on the display. It rang, but no one picked up. The voice mail kicked in. "Hi, it's Madison. Looks like we've missed each other. Tag, you're it! Leave a message and I'll get back to you." beep!
Sylar hung up the phone without leaving a message. Madison.
He tore through the living room until he found what looked like a personal address book. He flipped through it, comparing names and numbers to the number he had seen on the old woman's phone. He finally hit on it, finding an office, home and cell phone number. Addresses were written in a neat copperplate hand. It was still technically business hours, and this woman would be at work.
His lips stretched into a grimace of a smile.
"Tag. You're it."
***
Madison's last patient of the day canceled due to car trouble. She used the time to go through lab results and other paperwork, music playing softly behind her. It was a rare opportunity for her, as it meant she was likely going to go home early.
Her cell phone rang, startling her. She had forgotten to silence it, which wasn't like her. She picked it up and looked at the caller. Annika.
"Annika, what is it?" she asked, immediately concerned.
Annika's voice was light hearted. "Hello, dear." For a moment, Madison could feel herself calming down. Nothing new, then. "So lovely to catch you before you go away on your trip."
Fear curled in Madison's stomach. "What?" she whispered. The code.
Annika laughed, and Madison could hear the relief laced in it. She had been tired of the pain in her joints, tired of visions being displayed as nightmares. She enjoyed life, to be sure, but she wouldn't miss the painful aspects of it.
"I'm having a guest for tea, of course. My special blend. I just wanted to speak with you beforehand and wish you well. Oh, and do you have Alison's number?"
Madison's throat closed. This was it, then. "I'll look for it. I'll miss you, Annika."
Her laughter was genuine now. "Of course you will, dear. I expect to hear from you soon."
"Goodbye, Annika," Madison whispered, tears filling her eyes. Annika had been more of a mother to her than her own biological mother had been. This felt like tearing out a piece of her chest and throwing it away.
"Goodbye, dear. Be well."
And then she was gone.
Madison let the tears fall freely as she looked numbly at her phone. While they had planned it for a long time, she never thought the day would come when their emergency system would have to be used. It hurt.
She dialed a familiar number as she wiped at her eyes. "Hi, Jody. Is Brian in his office?" she asked with false cheerfulness. The police department secretary chatted with her for a minute, then passed her along to Brian.
"Maddy?"
"Exodus one through twelve. Now."
She hung up, not waiting for his response. She knew what would have to happen now. They all knew. Putting her phone in her pocket, she began shutting down her laptop. All of her patient notes were on it. That would have to be stored somewhere. The office fireproof safe was the first place to look. Her special patients' files were all coded, but it never hurt to be safe. There was the building's safe, which was harder to get to. It was in the basement, in a room next to the boiler. The deposits for the different buildings were stored there during the day, each office having a separate locked compartment within the room. That would be the perfect place.
She headed for the basement, mind on autopilot. Now was not the time for thinking. Now was the time to let instinct take over, to let the plan run its course.
The sky looked impossibly bright. Lightning cracked across the sky, even so.
Dread curled in her stomach, and she had nowhere to send it to.
***
***