Heroes fanfic: Confrontations, chapter 8
Title: Confrontations (Chapter 8/?)
Author: Jemma
Rating: To be safe, T (13+)
Disclaimer: Not my show or characters.
Characters: Peter, Nathan, Matt, Mohinder, Sylar, Future!Claire, Future!Peter, Future!Mohinder, Future!Nathan, Future!Danko, Danko, HRG, Mary Campbell, Luke, Tracy, mentions of Hiro.
Summary: My own interpretation of “Fugitives” after “Trust And Blood”. I started this before Volume Four began but added to it as new episodes showed. It follows Future!Peter in the future Fugitives-verse and the made of Awesome Trio which is Matt, Mohinder and Peter in the present. The three fugitives go on an important mission to find Sylar in an attempt to get Peter’s abilities back while, in the future, Future!Peter struggles with the changes of reality and suddenly finds himself in the same position many of his friends had been put in before they met a cruel fate.
Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four, Five 6.1, 6.2, Seven
Read here or at FF.net
Chapter Eight.
Emile Danko
Building 26, Present Day.
Dozens of eyes fixed on to him as Danko made his way up the stairs and past the many guards that had just recently surrounded themselves around the room full of fugitives.
"Waiting for your orders, sir," one of them told him as he approached the closed double doors from a safe distance.
Danko raised his head and licked his dry lips, cold eyes glaring through the door and trying to focus on the creatures inside. He liked to be in control and soon he would use whatever power he had to regain that control and put all those prisoners back where they belonged. He was put on a mission, and he intended to complete it.
Not moments later and the man nodded his head at the tall guard closest to the door. The guard nodded back, took a deep breath, and swung the door open. Everyone instinctively raised their weapons and pointed them in to the room. None of them were prepared for the sight in front of them.
Danko's face turned a deep shade of red and his sharp teeth clenched together as he forced his way in to the room only to find it was completely empty. He looked around him furiously. This couldn't be possible!
"Where are they?" he demanded angrily, expecting someone to give him a straightforward answer, "How could they have escaped? We had people watching this area!"
The guards stared at him blankly. They were just as confused as him. Danko cursed under his breath and ordered that they search the entire building. They couldn't be far. Where could two or three dozen people be hiding in a place like this anyway?
His attention was caught by something else - the room wasn't empty after all. He stormed towards the unconscious Nathan Petrelli and shook him awake furiously, pulling the tubes away and shouting at him.
Nathan wasn't sure what was happening at first, his mind and vision too hazy to figure out what was going on. But it wasn't until he had sat up straight and could see Danko's red face glaring at him that he remembered how he had gotten there.
The incompetent fool! Only an idiot could let his guard down and let himself fall in to this kind of situation. This sort of thing must run in the family, Danko thought to himself as he demanded an explanation from the Senator.
Unbeknownst to them, as Nathan attempted to explain himself, Tracy was stood inches away. So was Luke, and Mohinder, and Matt. In fact, the room was filled with the same people as it was before. They just couldn't be seen.
A man who called himself The Illusionist was stood in the centre of the room, concentrating hard. He could create large illusions and his current one involved making it seem like the room was empty when it wasn't. Mohinder watched him closely as his face showed obvious agitation. He was loosing focus. He nudged Matt and Tracy and told them he would create a distraction. He was planning to go back for Peter anyway. It had been too long and he was obviously no longer battling with Danko. This way, he might be able to lure most of the guards away and make the 'illusion' easier for the other man to continue.
The hard part was being able to lose the guards once he was spotted. Unlike Peter, Mohinder knew he wasn't indestructible. He could probably hold them off for a while, but what if he was shot? He looked thoughtfully at the exit by Danko and Nathan and then looked across the other side of the room to the second door.
"You trust these people too much. You have to accept they're not your friends anymore, they're not your family! They are the targets, the enemy."
"Do not lecture me, Danko. I know full well the relationships I once had with these people are irrelevant now," Nathan retorted, but he was interrupted as they noticed one of the doors swing open by itself. Nathan's bewildered expression suddenly snapped in to realisation. He recognised this, "They're invisible!" he yelled, "Go after them!"
Danko stared at Nathan. Invisible? He glanced suspiciously around the room, head slowly turning from side to side, eyes narrowed as if concentrating hard. An unseen Matt held his breath as the oblivious Danko looked right at him. Fortunately, Danko turned his attention back to Nathan as the rest of the men made their way out of the exit and after a man they couldn't even see.
The older man swallowed before speaking. Perhaps this wasn't the best time to bring up such a thing, but if Nathan was hiding something from him, Danko intended to find out what it was as soon as possible. He never liked being played as the fool and for some reason he found himself sensing some truth in the younger brother's words, "Senator, I need to talk to you. Would you come with me?"
Confused, Nathan stared at the other man cautiously for a moment, but nodded and followed the man out of the room.
They didn't notice the invisible Indian man make his way out behind them moments later.
Danko closed the office door behind Nathan and stared at him with a solemn frown. Nathan returned the scowl and asked him what their spontaneous meeting was for.
"You've been hiding something from me," Danko muttered in a low voice, "and I think I know what it is."
"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed Nathan, "Perhaps we have our differences but it doesn't mean I'm hiding anything from you."
"I'm not an idiot. I always sensed that there was something not quite right about you. It was instinct."
"What are you talking about?" Nathan demanded, though his heart unwillingly was increasing in speed.
"Your whole family has abilities," Danko approached him closer with a threatening look, "And you want me to believe that, by pure chance, you're the odd one out?"
Nathan narrowed his eyes at him cautiously. If he wasn't careful, Danko would soon know the truth about everything. And then he'd be paying the price. He'd become exactly like the people they were hunting, "Isn't it by pure chance anyway that one person has such abilities and another person doesn't?"
He hadn't told Danko that abilities could be given synthetically, like his. Only that he knew the gene could be modified and altered so that a person's so-called 'power' could be 'turned off'. Nathan was good at hiding emotion, so he tried to avoid his anxiety from exposing him at all costs. The way Danko was staring at him seemed to suggest he could see a lot more than just the surface of a person. It was almost as if he was reading him, as if that instinct of his was more accurate then Nathan had hoped.
Danko shook his head at the comment, believing his words to be a trivial way of preventing the truth, "Not just pure chance," he muttered, "You said that these abilities come from a person's genes. That means they're passed down from generation to generation," he began to walk from one side of the room to the other, cold eyes not leaving Nathan's, "Mommy and daddy had these….mutations in their DNA. So does baby brother. And so it just decided to skip big brother Nathan?" he asked scornfully.
"Don't forget who you're talking to, Danko," Nathan replied with clenched teeth, "Or your place here. Your job is to get these people off the streets and stop them endangering others, not question me. I don't have to prove anything to you."
Danko dropped his eyes for a moment, smiling, stepping back gently before raising his handgun, "Except that you can fly."
Nathan stumbled back, hands pointed to the ceiling as his expression fell, "What are you doing?"
"Getting the truth," the gun clicked, "Now fly, or I'll shoot."
"Are you out of your mind?" Nathan almost yelled.
"No, but you're almost out of time," Danko frowned, "I know you have an ability. Now I'm telling you to show me it or I'll pull the trigger."
Nathan's heart beat wildly. How did Danko know this? Had he seen him? Had someone told him? What now? The man was acting like a lunatic!
"If you kill me, you'll have to come up with a pretty good story to explain my death. They'll have experts on the case. It'll only be a matter of time before you're found out," he threatened, "You'd probably be the prime suspect," Nathan narrowed his eyes, watching the man carefully.
Danko lowered his gun slightly in thought. He grimaced, "Fine." Nathan breathed a silent sigh of relief and dropped his arms back to the sides, "Then I'll just kill your brother."
Nathan swallowed hard, "Peter?"
"We caught him not long ago. Even with all those abilities he's not as unstoppable as he'd like to be."
Nathan stared at him. He hadn't had a chance to rediscover what Peter's new abilities were. Last time he had asked, his brother wasn't enthusiastic about giving him a clear answer. But in the end, he was predictable. Travelling here with Sylar, the one person who had the many abilities Peter once had, or would want? Peter wouldn't bring him along just to cause mindless violence and disrupt Nathan's plans. He knew Peter would want to be the hero, that was his one desire and his weakness. No, he brought Sylar here for a reason. To help him be the hero. Sylar was here purely because of his abilities - abilities Peter probably intended to take, if he could.
It was typical behaviour of his baby brother. If Peter stopped this irrational obsession to save the world and rid of all evil, he would be able to open his eyes to reality. Life wasn't one big fairy tale where the good guys always won and the bad guys lost.
He wasn't sure of the details but he knew there must be some truth in his theory. Peter detested Sylar. Nathan hadn't really come face to face with the man before, but had heard of the terrible things he had done to his family and to many other innocent people. It was people like Sylar that convinced Nathan this operation was necessary. He wasn't a good person, and this is why Peter wouldn't bring him along unless he wanted something. His powers.
So, if Peter had already taken Sylar's abilities and was now contained in one of the prisoner's cells, where was Sylar?
"That's what we don't know," Danko answered with a serious tone when Nathan asked this aloud, "But you should be more concerned about Peter."
That's right; Danko was using Peter against him. He knew he cared for his safety just as much as Nathan valued his privacy. But if Peter, by some unthinkable method, did manage to absorb Sylar's abilities, surely he would be able to regenerate? He had Claire's power. He couldn't be killed, could he?
"Even if he did have that ability, a bullet lodged in the brain would make it very hard for it to repair itself," Danko smirked, "If that's what you're thinking. Peter would die instantly, and it would take a lot of hard work to delicately find and remove that bullet. Next to impossible, you might say. A sad waste of a test subject, I know. But if it has to be done…"
Nathan felt his knuckles itch and his heart pound furiously in his chest. Suddenly he resented how much knowledge Danko had obtained about how these powers work. Regrettably, most of the information had been from Nathan himself.
"It's your choice, Senator. Tell me the truth or your brother dies."
"You wouldn't waste the opportunity to have him examined. He might be the key to turning these powers off."
"Turning them off is not part of my area. Like you said, my job is to keep them off the streets. Now, it's pretty simple. Just tell me what I want to hear and all of this could be avoided."
It felt like the longest minute that had ever passed. Nathan bit the inside of his cheek with frustration. There was a chance Danko was bluffing, but he couldn't take that risk. Even though he and Peter hadn't spoken properly in a long time, he couldn't help loving him. And he would never forgive himself if he was ever harmed. There was no choice, Danko was wrong about that. He already knew the truth, whether Nathan told him or not. He questioned why he was threatening him for confirmation when he already had his suspicions but, he supposed, on some level he must enjoy putting people through such torture. He frowned and his eyes tore away and turned to the half-open blinds in the window.
"What do you want?" he mumbled, "In order for you to keep this quiet?"
Danko grinned triumphantly, the demands filling his head, "Let's make a deal, shall we?"
Nathan glanced at him and nodded solemnly, "Go on."
He crossed his arms and a sly glimmer shone in his otherwise stony eyes, "I want to take over the operation. I want to be in charge of everything."
"Not gonna happen. This is my operation," he reminded him. Nathan could imagine the Hell that would be unleashed under Danko's command. Yes, he got the job done but his unhealthy motivation and insensitivity would probably mean everything would be carried out even more chaotically and inhumanely. Not only that, but he feared he would no longer be able to protect his family. At least if Nathan had the authority, he could protect the ones he loved and make sure everything was dealt with appropriately.
"Either let me take over or I'll make sure this doesn't stay within these four walls," Danko threatened dangerously, "Or do you want me to threaten your brother's life again? I can give the order for his death before you can even realise what room he's in."
His head pounded in sync with his heart beat. He couldn't let Danko take over the operation, not all by himself anyway. But he couldn't let his secret get out either. He had come close to announcing his abilities once already and he had been shot for it. Obviously, a mistake. He knew that now. He hated this thing that had been injected in to him as a child, to make him different, to make him anything but normal. It had made life a lot harder, it had made his job a lot harder, and as soon as the experiments were proved to be successful, Nathan would volunteer himself to be operated on so this power of his could finally be turned off. But right now, he knew he had to do something. To protect himself and to protect his family.
"Alright," he muttered, "But I still want to be part of this team, I still want to have some say in the matter. I want you to listen to my input and consider what I have to say. This was my idea and I had a system…"
"I know your system, Senator," he paused, raising his head slightly in consideration, "I'll agree to your terms. So long as I get to choose whether I accept or deny any further ideas of yours."
He nodded, "And you won't hurt Peter?"
"You have my word."
"So we have a deal?"
Danko extended his arm, "We have a deal."
Nathan scowled at him and, after what seemed like minutes, extended his hand to shake his. He wasn't sure exactly what he had gotten himself in to. He had many doubts lingering in the back of his mind. But he had no choice. This was the way things had to be. He could only hope he hadn't made a huge mistake by making this deal, "You better start by clearing up this mess," he told his companion as he stepped towards the door, referring to the couple dozen prisoners whose whereabouts were now unknown.
The older man had a frighteningly confident expression on him, "I intend to."
"Is that the last of the cameras?" Matt turned to see Tracy approaching him.
He nodded at her and glanced back to a man named Alan who had the ability to destroy or cause objects to explode just by using his mind. He was using this to rid of any other cameras that may be planted around the room. Eyes and ears everywhere, Matt thought, it's hard to escape it. They couldn't stay invisible for much longer.
The camera erupted in flames and fell to the floor in ashes, the fire disappearing as quickly as it had emerged. Matt eyed the red-haired "Illusionist" man in the centre of the room with anxiety in his eyes, "How's he doing?" he asked, observing his obvious frustration as he tried to focus all his energy and attention on his objective.
"Don't think he can last much longer," Tracy frowned, "I say we make a run for it. With him there, we can just walk straight out the front door. No one will even know."
"We can't do that," Matt replied, though he was conscious of the nervous and impatient mutterings around him, "Peter's still in the building. We can't leave without him. And there may be others too. Besides, do you think he'll be able to keep this up while we're off running around like lunatics, trying to find the nearest exit."
"I'll keep them in order," Tracy told him, and her voice was slightly threatening. But still, Matt shook his head.
"It's too risky. We'll end up being shot at. There's too many people to protect."
"Use your ability," she suggested with agitation, "You can control people with it, right?"
"I'm sorry, Tracy. I can't."
"I need to get out of here, Matt."
"I know."
She frowned and glanced around the room one more time, her fellow fugitives placed messily in all directions, some angry, some confused, some deeply upset. Then there was the ice figure that was neither happy or sad-almost lacking emotion. It was not even excessively angry. Just a sinister frowning image that appeared to be haunting her. She needed to escape. She needed to go home.
Matt followed her eyes curiously, only his gaze saw past the ice figure and continued to scan the room. He wrinkled his nose and returned his attention to Tracy, "What happened to Mohinder?"
Alert, he had to keep alert. A bearded, uniformed man clutched his gun cautiously as he scanned the stairway, searching for one of the dangerous escapee's. Danko had ordered them to find every last remaining scoundrel and lock them back up immediately. Problem was, he wasn't sure what these people were capable of, or how to stop them. He only had himself, and his gun….and his orders. He cleared his throat as he climbed half way up and quickly inspected the landing above. Nothing.
He turned to continue looking when he heard footsteps. He paused and, swallowing hard, he slowly turned back around and saw a figure, half invisible, staring back at him,
"What the-?"
The figure lunged at him with his one visible arm and sent him sprawling across the hand rail, the gun dropping on the ground beside him. Recovering, he could see the dark-skinned man watch as the rest of his body gradually became visible. This must be one of the prisoners, he thought, panicked. With that, he grabbed the gun off the floor and attempted to point it at his attacker. But, even after loosing his cover of invisibility, the man was still stronger and quicker than him and forced him to the floor as he whisked the gun away with ease and hit him over the head with it.
"Sorry about that," he said gently to the unconscious man before recollecting himself and his reason for being there. He quickly took in a breath and snuck over to the exit that lead to a corridor. Now that The Illusionist wasn't making him seem invisible anymore, stealth would have to be an important contribution to his movements. He needed to find Peter.
Keeping close to the wall, Mohinder scanned the hall for cameras or nearby guards as well as any rooms Peter may be locked in. He passed many offices and empty rooms, but he couldn't see Peter. He heard a ringing sound at the end of one the corridors and followed it cautiously. There he could see a control room with many computers, desks and television screens. Keeping to his hiding place, he peered through the open double doors and saw the many photographs on the walls. He rolled his eyes hatefully at the pictures of him and his friends, displayed on a "Most Wanted" board like common criminals. Well, by the end of today that will all be over. He'll make sure of it.
"Yes, Mr. Danko, sir. We understand that," he heard a man in a tie and moist white shirt say, "Half have already been sent to look. You do realise we're not trained to deal with this sort of thing? Yes, I know. I do realise we signed a contract. Yessir. Alright, very well," he slammed the phone down and nodded at a group of men and women beside him before muttering something to them and handing each of them a phone device and what looked like a taser weapon. They left the office and Mohinder retreated back behind the wall so as not to be seen, but he could hear the man call back to the remaining people in the office to "watch the monitors and contact us if you see anything funny".
After their departure, Mohinder crept closer to the offices and his gaze drifted towards the many monitors, the same ones the previous man must have been talking about. They displayed various parts of the building and Mohinder wandered if this was where Matt saw Daphne, and whether it was possible for him to spot Peter.
The nervous chatter from the room was distracting; it seemed the apparent disappearance of the group was successfully worrying for Danko, Nathan and their clan. He realised, however, they couldn't stay invisible for much longer - they would have to form a new plan sooner or later but Mohinder preferred to reunite the group before thinking up anymore bright ideas. He stayed low and crouched with his back against the wall, peering in to the door way beside him and scanning the many black and white monitors that exposed the different areas of the building. Many showed rooms that were empty, which must have meant there were no more prisoners left to rescue and that they were all finally together upstairs. Except one.
He wished he still had his cover of invisibility. Then he would be able to stroll right up to each monitor and have a closer look. He would just have to make do with what he had; super strength was pretty useful anyway. After a minute or so, he gave up and snuck back down the corridor, telling himself he'd just have to kick every door of the place down until he came across the right one. But it was at that exact moment he heard the two men emerge from where he just come from.
Danko, looking very happy with himself indeed, pushed open the double doors of the stairwell, a troubled looking Nathan trailing behind. The older man smirked and entered the control room with his hands raised in the air.
"Listen up," he announced to the people in the room, "from now on this is my operation and all questions will be directed to me. Senator Petrelli has given me authority to continue, therefore, what I say goes," Mohinder listened closely from his location. He wasn't sure what the sudden change was for, but it didn't sound good, "I realise we have a pretty grisly situation on our hands but I intend to fix it: all exits shall be heavily guarded - no one is to leave at any time, alright? You find any of 'em, you tell me and lock them up individually. Got that?
There was a murmur of agreement throughout the room and Danko nodded triumphantly in return, "Pass the message on," he told them, "We'll catch them"
"Alright," he heard Nathan mutter in a hostile tone, "You've got your side of the deal, now tell me where Peter is."
"As I recall, Senator," Danko mumbled in reply, "The deal involved me taking over and, in return, I agreed not to hurt your brother or reveal your secret to the world. I didn't say anything about telling you of his location."
Nathan's features hardened, his fingers piercing his palms involuntarily, "Dammit, Danko, you son-of-a-bitch, you better tell me or-"
"He's safe where he is," his companion promised him, "After all this is over, he's free to go. For now, we have bigger things to worry about."
Mohinder swallowed as he watched Nathan's head drop in defeat. Danko grinned darkly and, turning away from him, entered the room behind. With this new information, Mohinder also turned to walk away. It sounded like this nightmarish future they had all been hearing about may be becoming more and more likely.
TBC