Adventures of Matt Parkman, Chapter 23: Villainy isn't all that bad
A/N: Keep in mind that the telepathic exchanges happen a bit faster than the spoken word.
Mohinder Suresh walked out on his patio, watching as two men walked up the wide, gravel-paved lane to his house. His features clouded with anger. Maury Parkman looked slightly different from the last time he'd seen him, but he still recognized him. He'd become almost entirely bald, lost weight and didn't carry himself quite as well. Mohinder had thought the man was dead, but the person who had told him of Maury's death was Matt himself, the other man walking up the drive. Matt too looked different - much lighter and with a cautious, furtive set to his features. The passage of time had been kind to neither of them. Obviously, Matt had lied to him.
When they were close enough to address, Mohinder called out angrily, "Stop there!"
The two men hesitated and glanced at one another. Matt thought, Let me handle this.
We're not having this discussion outside. The neighbors are too close. I can sense them, Maury projected back to him.
Okay. Just let me handle it.
They continued up the path. Mohinder shook his head and stepped out in the middle of the path to his door. "Matt! Why did you bring him here? You didn't tell me he was coming! He can't be here!"
Matt looked guilty, which only made Mohinder more angry. They were also still walking and were now nearly to him. Matt paused and said, "Mohinder, I'm sorry. We've come for Molly." Maury hung back a few steps.
"Matt! You were the one who sent her here. To be safe, away from people like him!" Mohinder waved in a large gesture at Maury, who looked unimpressed.
We can't have this argument outside, Matt. We're being noticed, his father thought to him.
Matt tried to ignore him. "Mohinder, I know. I'm so sorry. But I have to. We need her. I'll take care of her."
The Indian man's dark eyes flew wide. "NO," he said with every bit of emphasis he could muster.
Fine, I'm going inside. Maury rolled his eyes and walked forward, waving his hand dismissively at Mohinder. Suresh's perceptions were clouded and he felt a moment of confusion. By the time he fought it off, Maury had walked past him into his house.
Hey, Matt thought at his father's retreating back. You said you'd leave him alone!
I hardly did anything to him. That doesn't count.
It god damn well does count! Leave him alone.
Maury shut the door and didn't answer.
Mohinder blinked, looked behind himself at the closing door and then spun to look at Matt. Matt was shaking his head sadly. This was going about as badly as he'd expected it to go.
Mohinder rushed inside to find Maury standing in the living room, looking at the Indian man's mother. Matt followed, closing the door behind them, trying to think of how to defuse everything. Nothing came to mind at the moment. I just need more time!
Mohinder said, "Mother, get out of here. These men are dangerous. Get away from them!" He put himself between Maury and her, as she retreated to another room.
Maury cocked his head at Mohinder. "Now, now. All we want is the girl and we're not leaving until we have her. If you don't turn her over, I'll make you do it and you won't like what you are after I'm done with you. Do you understand me?"
"Dad, you said you wouldn't," Matt said quickly. He felt a surge of desperate fear as he realized the deal he'd begged for was about to be ignored as inconvenient. It wasn't the first time. Dad?
"No," Matt's father said, "you said you'd get him to cooperate. That was the agreement. If he doesn't cooperate, then I'll do whatever I need to get what we came for." If you want to play good cop, bad cop, that's fine.
That wasn't the plan… Matt looked at Mohinder, who was looking back and forth between the two men, trying to understand why Matt was doing whatever his father told him to do.
His father cut in, The plan was you were going to handle him. He's not being handled. He could snap and kill one of us at any moment. He's already thinking about it and so is his mother.
Okay, shut up and I'll handle it. "Mohinder…"
The Indian man shook his head. "No, Matt. There's nothing you can say that will make me cooperate with sending Molly away with this man. Or you, as long as you're working with him."
The voice of Mohinder's mother cut across the room as she entered, carrying a large gun Mohinder hadn't known they owned. She pointed it at Maury, just past her son and said, "No, we do not need to cooperate with you. You will leave our house and never come back!"
Matt gaped at her, uncertain of what to do.
His father was less reluctant to act. Goddammit. I am not getting shot in this god-forsaken shit hole. Maury sighed and stepped to the side. He raised a hand and the woman's aim shifted, solving both of Maury's problems at once. She fired, her bullets unerringly striking her son in the chest and side. A gun of that caliber should have knocked him to the ground with a single shot, but Mohinder stood against the impacts. He would have been better off to have fallen immediately.
"NO!" Matt leaped forward towards Mohinder and threw himself between the mother and son, but it was too late. The painting had become reality, he was sure. Mohinder shrugged Matt off easily, his strength undiminished even if he was bleeding to death. He surged towards Maury and knocked him back against the wall, grabbing his neck, intending to end him if it was the last thing he did.
Fuck! Maury thought and Matt felt his power leap to Mohinder's mother, delivering a last order.
"Hen, no!" Something about the terrified tone of Matt's voice and his use of his pet name for him made the man look back before he did it. His mother stood with the gun barrel under her chin, prepared to fire.
Maury whispered in his ear, "I'm the only thing keeping her from firing. If you kill me, she'll pull the trigger. Let me go, and I'll let her go." He was strangely calm, knowing he'd have revenge if the other man broke his neck.
Mohinder shook, feeling his life blood draining from him, shock threatening his consciousness. His opportunity was slipping away… or perhaps it was already gone.
Matt projected, his thoughts in anguish, Why? Why didn't you just make her drop the gun? Why did you make her shoot him?
You won't let me touch him mentally, so what does that leave? Exasperation colored the elder Parkman's tone. He'd have attacked me as soon as he realized I had her.
There had to be another way!
Maybe there was, but I only had like half a second to think of something while you stood there with your thumb up your ass.
The Indian staggered from the older man, collapsing to the floor. Maury carefully stepped around him, out of his reach. To Matt, he said, "He's all yours." He stepped in front of Mohinder's mother, who handed him the gun. She turned, expressionless as an automaton, and led him to Molly.
Matt crouched next to Mohinder and put pressure over the worst of his gunshot wounds. The injured man's arm shot upwards and grabbed Matt by the throat. Matt choked, unable to speak. Into the mind of the person he'd once been closer to than a mere friend, he thought, Let me go. Let me go, you moron! I'm trying to save your life!
Mohinder answered him, snarling, I don't want to live! Not if this is what it has become! I am not safe even in my parent's house, not even in my own mind. I won't let you be a part of Molly's life. I won't let you become like your father.
Mohinder… no! Matt felt his awareness fading, his vision dimming. He could see, very clearly in the other man's mind that he was going to kill Matt. There would be no release on his grip when he fell unconscious. If he didn't stop him, Matt would die by his hands. Mentally, he compelled him, Let me go, and broke one of the cardinal rules of their previous friendship.
Mohinder's fingers fell away lifelessly, but his eyes burned with hate. "I will find you, and I will kill you. I'm too late - you're already like your father." He coughed up blood.
Matt slumped limply, his heart seared to the core. He couldn't let Mohinder follow them. If he survived the gunshot wounds and pursued them, he'd only die somewhere else and who knew who he'd kill before he was taken down. The Company had too many resources and Molly was too important for them to let Mohinder take her.
He knew what he had to do - he just wished it wasn't so easy. He'd had so much practice in the last few weeks writing himself out of people's lives, making them not care and forget. For Mohinder he'd have to go deeper - the man had genuine feelings for him and Molly. To make Mohinder give up on people he loved, Matt would have to make him give up on himself. Matt twisted him so he would never try to save Molly or anyone like her.
He was dimly aware of Maury standing behind him with his hand on Molly's shoulder. She watched Mohinder's bleeding body twitch as the hate in his eyes faded into dullness. She knew what Matt was doing to him, at least in a general way. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she said nothing. There was nothing she could do to save either of them.
Matt stood and told Maury, "It's done. He won't come after us."
Maury looked at him and marveled that Matt could accomplish something like that in seconds. It would have taken the older man minutes, at least. He shrugged. "Hardly a point. He's going to bleed to death anyway." He started to the front door.
"No, he won't. Where did you leave his mother?" Matt looked around the room. It did not strike him as odd that he spoke to his father about other people like they were objects to be put somewhere and expected to stay there unless moved by an outside force. Molly stared over her shoulder at him with wide eyes. How could this be the same man whom she'd seen as her hero? How had he become so corrupted, so twisted? Maury's hand tightened fractionally on her shoulder. She was reminded he could see her thoughts… and so could Matt, who gave her a look so cold and distant she retreated within herself and silenced even her mind.
Maury waved dismissively towards the back of the house and walked out with Molly. "Back there," he called back, "Don't take too long. I won't wait."
Matt hurried to find Mohinder's mother, who was sitting on Molly's bed, looking stunned and holding the gun in her hand. He put the gun aside and grabbed her hand to lead her to her son's side. He looked into her mind and undid the veil his father had put over her senses, countermanding and removing the suggestion she kill herself after having killed her son. He imparted to her what he knew of first aid, what needed to be done. He took from her how to contact emergency services. He left her putting pressure on Mohinder's chest and he dialed for help, reporting the injury. Hopefully it would be enough.
He walked to the door and hesitated. His friend's mother sobbed over his body, begging him not to die. Matt shut his eyes for a moment, torn. He could hear her thoughts as plainly as her voice and they rent his heart. It was almost as bad as seeing what Molly thought of him. This was what he was now and there was nothing he could do about it. He wasn't a hero anymore, he was a villain. He stood up straighter and took a deep breath, coming to terms with himself. Outside, the engine of their rental car roared to life. He felt a now-familiar tug at his consciousness from his father. It was time to go.