Heroes fanfic: Confrontations, chapter 11
Title: Confrontations (Chapter 11/15)
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, Eight Nine, Ten
Read here or at FF.net
Chapter 11
Emile Danko
Building 26, Present Day
"I'm still waiting for these cameras to get back online," Danko spoke up impatiently as he stood in front of the monitors, "Tell me what's happening." The only thing worse then not being in control was not being able to tell if you were or not. That's what Emile Danko was feeling now. His mobile phone didn't appear to be working, nor did the radio, and the monitors had been presenting him with useless static for too long now. His patience had dwindled and he was getting angrier by the second. He finally had control of everything and now he couldn't even tell what the hell was happening. He glanced towards the door, ready to walk right through it and face the danger again himself.
"I'm sorry, sir. I don't know. They must have taken down the remaining cameras," a woman in glasses told him from her computer. Danko bit down hard on his dry lip.
A man looked up from his own computer, "Sir! I have the last remaining footage of each camera," Danko marched over to him and placed himself behind him, eyes fixed to the screen as the man hit a button on the keyboard and the footage began to play.
It was Suresh. Each camera caught a short recording of his hand as it reached up and tore it down, causing static to suddenly appear on the monitor. Danko shook his head, "Oh, doctor Suresh. You could have been so useful to me. Now you've just made my list." His attention turned to another monitor, "What about this one?" he asked as he pointed to a black and white screen that seemed to be fuzzy and crooked. Static every so often obscured the picture but it was clear enough to see two figures creep down the corridor before the picture completely dissolved in to black and white fuzz. One of them appeared to be their camera vandal, Suresh. When Danko realised who the other was, he growled curse words under his breath, "Peter Petrelli. You just don't give up, do you? Echolson!" he turned to look at another man sitting behind a desk, typing and clicking frantically in front of his computer, "Did you find out what happened to the other cameras?"
"Yessir," he replied sharply, "Some of them. You're not going to like it." He wheeled back his chair slightly to allow Danko a better look at each camera's last remaining piece of footage. Danko leant forward and watched the empty prisoners room. Nothing. Then, a bright flame filled the screen before more static replaced its colourful fury.
"The Hell?" Danko murmured, grabbing the mouse and replaying the footage, "Wait a minute…That's one of them. I knew it. They're still there! Damn it!" He withdrew from the monitor and thundered towards his office, shutting the door behind him and grabbing the telephone from his desk.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" he spoke in to the receiver, "I need more men upstairs ASAP. It seems these freaks have more tricks up their sleeves than I anticipated…"
No answer.
Hearing a cough behind him, he stopped and slowly turned around to see a familiar figure. Tall, dark, creepy as hell; it was the man they call Sylar. He was here, towering above him and standing in front of the door of the office with that sinister smile of his. He had never seen him in person, but Danko knew this was definitely him.
"What's a guy got to do to get out of a place like this?" he asked, the dark smile indented in to his face.
"You're Sylar," replied Danko, placing the phone back down without so much as a shudder. Sylar sensed his lack of fear and edged towards him slowly.
"That's right. Judging by your little board out there I'm quite the celebrity. Your friendly employees out there recognised me straight away."
Danko peered through the blinds of the window and became alarmed to see that all of his staff were suddenly slouched in their seats or on the floor, lifeless.
"You killed them all," muttered Danko with a heavy frown, though still lacking any obvious emotion.
"Nope, they're just sedated. A clever little trick I got from my father before I nearly killed him. Unfortunately, somebody else beat me to it," he added hatefully, picturing the ice statue once again and the anger it brought him. Their confrontation was so short-lived, and Sylar still felt as if he had some unfinished business he could no longer fulfil.
"Why are you here?" The older man glared at him, "To kill me?"
Sylar simply stared at him before propping himself up on the desk, "I want to know why you're rounding up people with abilities. Is it true to want to experiment on them?"
Danko appeared surprised by the question. Why hadn't the man taken his head by now? Did he actually care about these people and what they were doing to them? He relaxed a little; at least he was still alive, breathing air and still capable of answering what this intruder wanted to know, "Yes, it's true," he said slowly.
"Hmm," he pouted in thought before turning to look at Danko again, "It takes a sick person to think up a massive conspiracy like this," he paused almost seeming impressed. A little more seriousness entered his tone as he stared in to Danko's glassy eyes with his own piercing brown ones, "Why are you doing this?"
"Our aim," Danko began, "is to figure out how to turn these so called abilities off.."
"Turn them off? And you would do this by…?"
"Tests, brain surgery," Danko breathed, "Any way possible. We'll know once we learn more about how they work."
Truthfully, what this man was describing seemed very similar to what Sylar was guilty of himself. Well, apart from claiming the abilities for his own. Obviously, Nathan and this Danko person weren't interested in that. But tracking down specials and cutting them open to find out just how they tick was a process he was definitely familiar with. Suddenly, this operation didn't seem as awful as he first thought.
"It seems like we have a few things in common," he smiled slightly, eyes returning to Danko's.
"Like what?" Danko spat.
"We both have an interest in finding out how these abilities work. I'm somewhat of a professional in that area."
"Oh yeah? So what?"
"You must have dozens of specials running riot upstairs, each with unique and intriguing abilities waiting to be studied. We both agree, none of those people deserve those abilities so I'm all for turning them off. It's probably better then my method of dealing with them anyway," he sniggered slightly and Danko watched him carefully as he continued, "I want to make a deal with you."
Now it was Danko's turn to snigger, "A deal? Right. I guess this is a theme today or something."
Sylar drew his fingers and slammed Danko in to the wall, "Are you going to listen to what I have to say or not?"
Danko didn't say anything, just slowly returned to his feet while grunting in pain after recovering from the initial shock.
"I can understand these powers better than anyone. I can help you understand how they work. I can help you turn them off permanently too."
The older man finished dusting himself off, "And you would want in return?"
He shrugged, "I just want to be there when you cut each one of their heads open. Saves me doing it, even though I often consider that the fun part. But I figure, so long as you're gathering up all the specials anyway it would sure save me the trouble."
Danko looked away for a moment in thought before returning his gaze, "Is that it? You just want to be there during the surgery so you can help us turn off their abilities?" Sylar grinned. Danko stared at him, "It would make you stronger, wouldn't it? More powerful…"
"Exactly."
"And what if I refuse your offer? We have plenty of educated scientists already. Granted, they're not all trained for this sort of case but how do I know they won't be just as efficient as you?"
Sylar glared at him and thundered towards him threateningly, "Trust me, you don't want to refuse this offer."
Danko looked up at him, "You won't kill me, otherwise you would have done it by now. For the same reason you didn't kill them outside," he went on, realising he understood this psychopath now more than he first thought, "I've read your file; you seem to have a pattern just like most serial killers. And guess what? I don't fit in that pattern and you know why? Because I don't possess anything you can just take by killing me and cutting open my head, so what would the point be?"
"You don't know me," growled Sylar, "And I'm not as selective with my kills as you may think. I could just kill you now and go upstairs and gain all of their abilities the old fashioned way. It would be a blood bath, and it would be all your fault. But I don't think you want me to do that, do you?"
Danko ran his tongue along the inside of his teeth as his mind processed this. He had been warned of this man many times. He knew what he was capable of and he would be capable of a lot more if he allowed him to be present during the surgeries. He sighed. Was it worth the risk of letting Sylar become more powerful? His file did mention something about his impressive ability to comprehend these powers just by studying a person's brain. It would be extremely convenient and make the process a lot speedier.
Sylar continued to glare at Danko as he considered his offer. He knew he could easily rid of him and attack the clueless flock upstairs, taking their abilities one at a time. But if he stayed here, he wouldn't have to put so much effort in to killing each individual and tearing open their heads. And as much as he told himself that was the thrilling part, it really wasn't. Besides, the more specials that Danko's cronies captured over time, the more abilities he could harvest for himself. For now, his first concern was that infernal Peter Petrelli. Now the interfering man had his abilities, he was almost just as strong as Sylar himself. Almost. But he would surely try and step in to rescue his followers, being the good Samaritan he was. And as long as he was trying to hurt others, Peter would be the hero and try to stop him.
He wondered why he ever agreed to help such a deluded fool. Oh, yes; his father. Who was now dead. And the apparent fact that Danko would mercilessly murder hundreds of innocent people.
Oh well. As long as he got what he wanted, he no longer cared.
What Danko said next made Sylar wonder if the man had been looking inside his own head. He sighed again and looked him dead in the eyes, "Alright. I'll accept the deal. But only if you do me one more favour," he paused, "Kill Peter Petrelli for me."
Sylar stared at him, "You want me to kill Peter?"
"He's the reason for this mess, isn't he? The rest of them hang on every word he says like he's their saviour. As long as he's around this operation runs the risk of failure, and I can't have that. This research is vital and I cannot allow him to destroy all the work we've already begun."
As much as Sylar encouraged the idea of ridding of Peter Petrelli, he couldn't help but be surprised. Obviously, Danko wanted him out of the way as much as Sylar did. But wasn't he forgetting one thing?
"What about your little colleague? Nathan Petrelli?"
"Don't worry about him. Just concentrate on getting rid of Peter. Then we can continue the research and you can have all the brains you want."
Sylar showed a toothy grin. In some ways, this stranger reminded him of himself. Murder was in their blood, whether they wanted it or not. They did what they had to to reach their goal, to survive. Sylar nodded,
"It would be my pleasure."
The groups had been sorted. Tracy, one of the people more eager to leave, decided to help her group find a way out. Luke, who had decided he needed urgent medical treatment, had chosen to accompany her along with the rest of the specials who were desperate to leave whether it was because they were scared, unfamiliar with their powers or just really needed to get out of there. Tracy's group appeared to have the majority of people but that was alright. Peter didn't want to put anyone in danger who wasn't prepared or able to fight a battle they couldn't. Peter had reminded Tracy about the missing Sylar and wished her good luck. She had smiled at the boys and wished them the same.
"Be careful," she told them before darkening her tone, "Give those bastards hell. I mean it."
She took a deep breath and turned to the crowd behind her, giving them her own instructions and reminding them of Peter's previous speech. Luke stood at the back still clutching at his wounded arm. He had lost interest in the whole thing. Samson was dead, Sylar was AWOL, and his arm stung like a bitch. Tracy rolled her eyes and beckoned him as the group began to make their way down the corridor.
Peter watched them go nervously. He would have given them a radio or a phone of some sort, but a girl had admitted her ability often messed with communications devices, which explained why the radio's weren't working as well as normal. Mohinder placed a friendly hand on his shoulder, "She'll be fine. They'll all be fine. I'm more worried about us," he stifled a dry laugh. Peter nodded worriedly before turning back to their own group.
"Okay" he began whilst quickly scanning the six other members of the group, "We're going to confront a man called Danko. He's in charge of this operation now. It's likely there'll be a lot of guards protecting him so just do what you have to to get by them and stay alive. They're using bullets, they're shooting to kill so be careful."
"In the room before," the man with the green static spoke up (Peter had learnt his name was Michael), "There was another man. That guy, uh, Danko was shouting at him. He looked familiar. Was he a part of this too?"
Peter sighed and nodded sadly, "Yes, he was. His name is Nathan."
"Nathan…Nathan Petrelli? The Senator?" Michael asked with surprise.
"He's lost my vote," a woman muttered.
Peter allowed another quiet sigh. Not long ago he would have been as angry as the people in front of him. But he had had time to adjust to the deception by now and after learning what he had about Nathan's position and the recent deal he had made with Danko, Peter wasn't sure how much he could hate his older brother anymore.
"Yes, he was in charge. But now Danko is and believe me, he's much more dangerous than Nathan. He's making the orders now. He's the one intending to hurt us. He's the one we've got to stop."
"What if we can't?" another man asked.
"Hey, we will," Zoe told him before smiling at Peter again, "Together."
"Us against them," Peter repeated, returning the smile, "Everybody ready?"
"Hey," Michael spoke again, "as much as I think it's great that you three complete strangers have taken the time and effort to free us from imprisonment and then lead us in to what seems to be the strangest battle anyone has ever fought…don't we at least get to learn your names?"
There was silence for a beat, "Sure," Peter smiled, looking down briefly before introducing Matt, Mohinder, and himself to the group.
"Perfect," Michael announced, "Now we're ready."
Tracy Strauss wasn't used to this. She had a quick wit and persuasive charm about her that made her an excellent political adviser back before Pinehearst or any of this madness ensued, but this was new to her. She wasn't used to leading a group of people and guiding them away from danger. She realised nobody had asked her to take this role but nobody else appeared to be very enthusiastic about taking over. Besides, they seemed to trust her and identify her as someone who knew what they were doing. Maybe they assumed she was part of this rescue mission seeing as she had woken up each individual from their forced sleep and brought them back to reality. She told herself this would be a walk in the park but there was still that nagging feeling that something was going to go very wrong.
She had hoped the "Illusionist" guy would have had enough strength left in him by now to hide them all from the danger but it seemed the smoke had weakened him and now he was more likely to expose them than hide them with all that coughing he was doing.
"Try and keep it down," Tracy whispered, her arm raised like a firearm as it slowly became encased with ice, ready to attack any intruders.
"I'm sorry, I'll try to cough myself to death a little quieter," he retorted, but was compliant with her request.
She glanced behind her and saw Luke join her, his own hand appearing to produce an orb of heat. She was surprised at his sudden presence but he only shrugged , admitting he was bored of moping at the back and the quicker they got out of here the better.
She noticed her arm begin to drip; she was melting. Pushing away Luke's hand she made sure her own icy form was as far away as possible, "Do you mind? Watch it!"
The heat waves vanished and he chuckled slightly, "Hot and cold. Could we be any more opposite to each other?"
She rolled her eyes but didn't return any more of a response than that, only pushed ahead urgently. Luke followed her eagerly. She may be ice cold, but in his eyes she was the hottest girl here. Of course, that would have to be the most critical thing on a teenage boy's mind in a situation like this.
"I hear something," they heard a brunette girl behind them say nervously. They turned around to look at her. She seemed very anxious. Tracy strained her hearing and looked around her in all directions, but she couldn't hear a thing.
"Are you sure?"
"I hear footsteps," she trembled, "They're very loud. They're coming closer."
Luke still seemed confused but Tracy figured out her impressive hearing skills must be something to do with her ability. She stepped closer to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Where?" she glanced behind her, breathing intensifying, "Which direction?"
The girl placed a loose strand of curly brown hair behind her ear and closed her eyes for a moment. A few seconds later, she drew a short breath and pointed to one side, "Over there. Two men. They're almost here."
There was a few panicked mumblings but Tracy managed to calm them. She held out her icy hand and some of the others behind her emulated her actions, ready to defend themselves. As expected, two men dressed head to toe in black and holding guns appeared where the girl had previously been pointing. On seeing them, they pointed their weapons and prepared to shoot. A scream broke out. Luke had used his good arm to shoot heat waves at one of them, causing the man to topple over in pain. But by then it had been too late. A shot rang out. Tracy closed her eyes.
When she opened them she was surprised to see herself and the entire group enveloped by some sort of transparent bubble. A young man with a small scar above his lip had his arms out and he was breathing heavily. He seemed to be the cause of it.
"How are you doing that?" someone asked.
"I don't know," he breathed, sweat forming on his forehead, "I really don't know."
"Whatever it is, keep doing it," Tracy told him, taking a deep breath herself as the bullets continued firing only to bounce right off the apparent force field.
"We can't just stay in a bubble forever," Luke mumbled watching the bullets recoil off the see-through dome.
"Just wait," Tracy warned, stopping him from leaving the safety of the sphere. The man on the floor seemed to be recovering and he shakily reached for his gun that was lying on the floor in front of him. At that moment, he noticed a bullet shooting towards them and hit the man beside him in the thigh. He fell next to him. He glanced up to see the object that had caused the bullet to recoil,
"What the hell is that thing?"
"I don't know, just freakin' get rid of it," yelled the other man, clutching his wounded thigh in agony. His trembling frame weakened, and he let his weapon slide to the floor next to him. It was clear to see he wasn't interested in fighting anymore.
The first man scrambled back up and shot wildly at the group, thundering towards them, bullets firing everywhere. When he approached the sphere, he took his gun and pounded against it furiously, hoping to damage it.
They're out to kill now, Peter had said. He wasn't wrong.
Tracy glared at him, her hand icing over quickly. Luke shook his head, "Screw this." He took a breath before running out of the dome and head butting their attacker in the chest. He went sprawling to the floor, Luke on top of him, using the fist from his good arm to vent out his anger. He certainly wasn't new to fighting and he wasn't one to shy away from it. Whenever the kids at school said something about him, he made sure they'd regret it. He was always up for a good old-fashioned fight, rather than using the deadly advantage no one knew he had. Then again, he wasn't always one to win but this time he had to make sure of it, one-armed or not.
He punched the older man in the face and, before he could reach it, kicked his gun across the room. Tracy would have collected it, but decided with their powers, there was really no need for bullets and weapons such as that. The protective sphere seemed to fade away and while the fight ensued, Tracy beckoned the group onwards, past Luke who had now been rolled over and was receiving painful blows to the head, and down the next corridor.
Luke writhed in pain at the beatings, an agonising addition to his previous wounds. He took this as his cue to use his special advantage. He raised his unwounded arm and took aim, but the other man caught it and slowly began to bend it backwards.
"This is it, you freak. You're gonna wish you never did that."
Luke bit through his lip, screaming at the pain. Just when he thought his last remaining good arm was going to snap off, the man turned a strange colour of blue. His features frosted over and he fell to the floor, crashing in to little pieces. For a moment, he only stared at the remains before glancing up to see Tracy standing over him, staring and looking just as shocked as he did. She swallowed and held out her hand to help him up. He took it and thanked her for her assistance.
"It's no problem. Like Peter said, we've got to help each other out if we want to survive, right?"
He nodded and she walked on. He watched her and thought quietly to himself for a moment, glancing back at where they had just come from, before following Tracy towards the rest of the group.