I actually wrote something!
Blame heroes_contest for this! Have mixed feelings about this as it's the first thing I've written in about 18 months. Feel it could have gone better, but am kinda impressed with myself that I actually managed to get it finished by the deadline rather than just giving up! Writers block isn't quite broken yet, but I will be doing the next prompt and the one after until it finally is!
So here is Heroes Contest Challenge 2 Fic- Prompt: Right or Wrong
Title: His Father's Son
Character: Matt Parkman
Rating: General
Word limit: 500 words minimum.
Word count: 699.
Spoilers up to 2.11 ‘Powerless’
Summary: He'll never be like his father...
“Does that mean you passed your detective's exam?”
“With flying colors. Why? You proud of me?”
“Mmm, depends. Did you cheat?”
But how was it cheating, really? Didn’t his power make him better for the job? He wouldn’t make the mistakes others would, wouldn’t shoot the wrong kid or arrest the wrong person. No bad guy would ever be able to sneak up on him. May be able to control his footsteps or breathing, stay quiet as the grave, but the thoughts would always give them away. It wasn’t cheating. It just made him a better detective.
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Reading the answers out of people's minds, it's unfair.”
“No, it is my natural talent. You wouldn't think a baseball player's cheating 'cause he's athletic, would you?”
“It's not the same and you know it.”
Why should he deny who he is anyway? His mother raised him to always be proud of his achievements and of who he is. And for the first time he actually was. He wasn’t a bad guy, he wasn’t like Sylar. He would use his powers for good. To help people. What was so bad about that?
“I need to say it. When I found out I could read minds, it was a temptation, I was weak. I used people. I was a real scumbag. You ... a cop. I'm so proud…..This thing we can do, you and I. It only begins at reading minds. And then it becomes so much more.”
How much is any man like his father? Is it genetics that defines him or the way he was raised? Maury Parkman. Molly’s Nightmare Man. Matt’s father. They had the same powers, but Matt knew he was different. He was Molly’s hero after all. He would never be the manipulative monster his father had been, targeting traumatized young girls and terrified women. Temptation his father had called it. Temptation to use his abilities for personal gain. Matt wouldn’t do that. He was a good guy.
And doing to his father what he had done to who knows how many others… trapping him in his own nightmares…. Didn’t make him the same in anyway…. That hadn’t been wrong, that had been justice….
Just do it ok? For me?
Come back and finish your cereal…
That had been for Molly’s own good. She had no idea how much danger she’d be in if she openly used her abilities. And he didn’t want to ruin what was left of her innocence by spelling it out for her. It was better this way, safer. Just…persuading her. He was doing it for her. It was the right thing to do.
Give me 24 hours. Let me talk to Angela Petrelli again.
“Tell you what. You got 24 hours. Talk to Angela Petrelli again. Then you're done.”
“Thank you. Great idea.”
Maybe it was cheating to use his powers to make the boss let him have his way. But with everything that was at stake, finding a killer targeting a group of powerful individuals that held in their hands the future of Molly and other children like her. Angela Petrelli knew something, he was sure of it, he just needed more time with her. Then he could catch the bad guy, be the hero for Molly again.
“If you take this secret from me, you're not just like your father ...You are him.”
She was wrong. It was her fault, if she had just been honest with him from the beginning he would never had had to do that, forced the woman’s name from her mind. And the woman, Victoria Pratt, was dead because of Angela Petrelli’s refusal to co-operate. He should have made her tell him sooner, reached Adam and Peter faster…
He wasn’t his father, he could never be his father. He was a good guy.
“Matt, I need your help. Make sure everybody listens to me.”
“Okay, I did it. They're ready for you. They'll definitely hear what you have to say.”
He had developed all the powers his father had, taken his telepathy to new levels. But he would use them differently. His father had been wrong. He was right.
So here is Heroes Contest Challenge 2 Fic- Prompt: Right or Wrong
Title: His Father's Son
Character: Matt Parkman
Rating: General
Word limit: 500 words minimum.
Word count: 699.
Spoilers up to 2.11 ‘Powerless’
Summary: He'll never be like his father...
“Does that mean you passed your detective's exam?”
“With flying colors. Why? You proud of me?”
“Mmm, depends. Did you cheat?”
But how was it cheating, really? Didn’t his power make him better for the job? He wouldn’t make the mistakes others would, wouldn’t shoot the wrong kid or arrest the wrong person. No bad guy would ever be able to sneak up on him. May be able to control his footsteps or breathing, stay quiet as the grave, but the thoughts would always give them away. It wasn’t cheating. It just made him a better detective.
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Reading the answers out of people's minds, it's unfair.”
“No, it is my natural talent. You wouldn't think a baseball player's cheating 'cause he's athletic, would you?”
“It's not the same and you know it.”
Why should he deny who he is anyway? His mother raised him to always be proud of his achievements and of who he is. And for the first time he actually was. He wasn’t a bad guy, he wasn’t like Sylar. He would use his powers for good. To help people. What was so bad about that?
“I need to say it. When I found out I could read minds, it was a temptation, I was weak. I used people. I was a real scumbag. You ... a cop. I'm so proud…..This thing we can do, you and I. It only begins at reading minds. And then it becomes so much more.”
How much is any man like his father? Is it genetics that defines him or the way he was raised? Maury Parkman. Molly’s Nightmare Man. Matt’s father. They had the same powers, but Matt knew he was different. He was Molly’s hero after all. He would never be the manipulative monster his father had been, targeting traumatized young girls and terrified women. Temptation his father had called it. Temptation to use his abilities for personal gain. Matt wouldn’t do that. He was a good guy.
And doing to his father what he had done to who knows how many others… trapping him in his own nightmares…. Didn’t make him the same in anyway…. That hadn’t been wrong, that had been justice….
Just do it ok? For me?
Come back and finish your cereal…
That had been for Molly’s own good. She had no idea how much danger she’d be in if she openly used her abilities. And he didn’t want to ruin what was left of her innocence by spelling it out for her. It was better this way, safer. Just…persuading her. He was doing it for her. It was the right thing to do.
Give me 24 hours. Let me talk to Angela Petrelli again.
“Tell you what. You got 24 hours. Talk to Angela Petrelli again. Then you're done.”
“Thank you. Great idea.”
Maybe it was cheating to use his powers to make the boss let him have his way. But with everything that was at stake, finding a killer targeting a group of powerful individuals that held in their hands the future of Molly and other children like her. Angela Petrelli knew something, he was sure of it, he just needed more time with her. Then he could catch the bad guy, be the hero for Molly again.
“If you take this secret from me, you're not just like your father ...You are him.”
She was wrong. It was her fault, if she had just been honest with him from the beginning he would never had had to do that, forced the woman’s name from her mind. And the woman, Victoria Pratt, was dead because of Angela Petrelli’s refusal to co-operate. He should have made her tell him sooner, reached Adam and Peter faster…
He wasn’t his father, he could never be his father. He was a good guy.
“Matt, I need your help. Make sure everybody listens to me.”
“Okay, I did it. They're ready for you. They'll definitely hear what you have to say.”
He had developed all the powers his father had, taken his telepathy to new levels. But he would use them differently. His father had been wrong. He was right.