Heroes: Incognito (7/12)
Sep. 26th, 2010 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lotus0kidRating: PG-13 (a little language, a little violence, a little sex)
Word Count: 1,501
Disclaimer: Heroes characters belong to Tim Kring.
A/N:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
heroes_bigboom fic. Thanks for the beta, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
visiblemarket!
Summary: Notorious-inspired AU set chronologically in S1, in which a past schism pits the Company against Primatech. To prevent Primatech from destroying New York City, Company agent Peter Petrelli enlists ex-agent Claude Rains.
Chapter Six
His ringing cell phone ruthlessly pries Peter out of a post-orgasm coma. It’s an effort just to lift his head and try to squint the sleep from his eyes. It’s just plain cruel that he has to stand up and walk all the way across the room to access the pants pocket containing his phone.
Matters aren’t improved by Claude rolling over and sitting up, bracing his arms on the mattress and giving Peter a wholly unprofessional leer from beneath tousled hair.
“Hi, Nathan,” Peter says, desperately hoping he sounds normal.
“Peter, you sound a little hoarse, are you okay?”
He grimaces, and manages to tear his eyes away from Claude, who is now sliding out of the sheets. “I’m fine. What’s going on?”
“Has Claude contacted you in the last four hours?”
A pair of warm palms running over his shoulders and down his arms short-circuits his brain. “Uh...”
“Listen,” Nathan mercifully continues, “Bennet’s told us Thompson got wind of Claude.”
“Oh.” Claude’s mouth drops to Peter’s neck. “Oh...”
“Yeah, ‘oh,’ but we might have a solution. Thompson knows Claude’s in town, but he doesn’t know he’s working for us. So we’re thinking if he can get Thompson to believe he’s interested in going back to Primatech, he’d be in an even better position to access the information we need.”
“That... that’s good...” Nathan really doesn’t have to know Peter’s referring to Claude wrapping his arms around the empath’s waist and pressing his body from chin to ankle against him.
“Okay, so bring Claude in, explain the situation and the new plan. Have him call us for further instructions. Got it?”
“Uh huh... sure... Soon as I see him.” Peter twists in Claude’s arms to reach his mouth for a quickly given kiss.
The cell phone dangling in his hand emits a sigh. “Peter, would you try to focus here? This is kind of important.”
Claude snags the phone from limp fingers and holds it to his ear, saying, “Hey, Nathan? Everything you just said Pete and I already know, so why don’t you bugger off and let us get back to shagging? I’m still discovering how delightfully flexible our Peter is. So long.”
The phone beeps, and Claude levels an evil grin at Peter, who stares at the device like it’s a ticking bomb.
A few seconds pass, and Claude’s grin fades. “I hung up before I said all that, okay? ‘M not that stupid.” A few more seconds, and Claude starts to look truly aggrieved, “I did, honestly! Don’t ya’ believe me?”
Peter gives him an inscrutable look. “I believe you. You think my brother wouldn’t bother calling back if you didn’t?”
Claude rolls his eyes, but lets out a sharp laugh and tightens his hold on Peter. “Bloody Petrellis. Should’ve known what I was in for.”
“Just keeping you on your toes.”
Claude sobers. “Gonna have to be, won’t I? For this next bit.”
“Yeah.” Peter slips out of Claude’s arms and starts gathering his clothes. Nathan’s call has brought the enormity of the situation back to the forefront of his mind- whatever it is that’s going on between him and Claude has got to wait. “So, there’s no way Primatech will take you back and let you in on their plans right away. Got any ideas for getting into their good graces?”
“Sure. I’ll fix their mole problem.”
“Take out Noah Bennet. That could work- they already suspect him.” He pauses, “You’re not going to actually kill him, right?”
Claude smirks. “Tempting, but I hadn’t planned to. We’ll put a call in to big brother, see how he’d like to arrange things.”
“Yeah, okay.” Peter pulls on his shirt and stands facing Claude, hands on his hips and a look of decided resolve on his face.
Claude blinks a few times and smiles ruefully. “And here I was thinkin’ of saying something like, ‘In the meantime, dot dot dot.’ Suppose we had a fun afternoon and now all that’s off the table, then.”
Peter winces, and finds himself shuffling. “Well, I mean, we’ve got a lot to do, right? Now that things are... different... We shouldn’t really be... you know. Not that-”
Claude holds up his hands. “No, no, I see. Always better to know where one stands, wouldn’t you say?” He steps around Peter, snatching up his own clothes.
The empath frowns, trying to figure out how and how badly he managed to mess things up and if he trusts himself to try using words again to fix it, but Claude’s already dialing on his cell phone.
***
The night seems all the darker after the sun-filled California day. This back road out in the hills has no streetlamps, so Peter leaves the headlights on in his rented car. Claude leans against the grill, and Peter hops up to sit on the hood.
Claude feels eyes on him several times for the next twenty minutes or so, but Peter says nothing, so neither does he. At last another pair of headlights appears on the road. “Here they come,” Peter says needlessly. Claude crosses his arms over his chest and thinks of the explosion.
The other car stops and two people climb out- a young, thin woman with dark hair and a middle-aged man of no remarkable description aside from perhaps his old-fashioned horn-rimmed glasses. “Claude,” Noah Bennet says.
Claude gives a short nod. It’s the best he can manage.
Noah shifts his gaze, “Peter, how are things?”
“Fine for us. How about you? What was the situation like at Primatech?”
“Excited enough to let a suspected double agent hear about the reappearance of the infamous invisible man.” He pauses, “Well, I suppose it’s confirmed double agent now.”
“Ruined your reputation well enough before you left?” Claude asks.
Noah looks at him steadily. “You’ll be their knight in shining armor.”
Claude bares his teeth in a grin, “Right then, let’s get started.” He turns to the young woman, “I assume you’re the agent the Company sent along?”
She nods, “That’s right. I’m Candice Wilmer.”
“Cheers. Into the ditch with you then, Bennet.”
Noah steps off the road and clambers into a muddy ditch about four feet away, where he lies down.
Claude glances from Noah to Candice and furrows his brow. “Explain t’me again why a camera should see an illusion.”
She shrugs. “It just does. You want me to do it or not?”
“And make it snappy, would you, Claude?” Noah chimes in. “It’s wet down here.”
Claude moves to snap a retort, or maybe just kill Bennet himself and have done with it once and for all, but he catches a glimpse of Peter’s quickly hidden laughter and contains himself. “Fine, fine,” he grumbles, “Only risking my life here, nothing to get overly concerned about.” He turns to Candice again, “But you’re sure, yeah? They won’t be able to- run it through a scanner or somethin’ an’ tell it’s fake.”
“It hasn’t happened to me yet.”
Since you look about thirteen years old that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, Claude doesn’t say. He reminds himself that a person with Candice’s abilities can look however they damn well please. Accessing his ability, he casts a glance at her to see if there is a mask to look under. She’s very good indeed.
Candice inches her way into the ditch and crouches next to Bennet’s prone form. Then she disappears, and an angry red hole appears on Bennet’s forehead. His face is slack and pale, his chest unmoving. Claude holds up his cell phone and takes several pictures. It’s not nearly as satisfying as he imagined it would be. “Okay, all done.”
Candice reappears, already moving away. The corpse of Noah Bennet is replaced by the living man, who also climbs to his feet and out of the ditch. “Claude,” he says.
As much as he’d like not to, he replies, “Yeah?”
“I wanted to thank you, for this.”
Claude frowns, “What do you mean?”
Noah gives a half-smile. “I’m finally getting out. Like Haram. Like you. After what I did- to you, I became the Company’s double agent. And it’s been... as difficult and dangerous as I deserve.”
Claude rolls his eyes. “Yeah, okay, r-Bennet. Run along now.”
He takes a step away, but Noah holds up a hand, “One more thing. I’d appreciate it if, after all this is done, you could come say hello to Sandra and the kids. Is there a remote chance that would be possible?”
Claude stares at Noah, feeling not a bit like he’s been punched in the gut. When they were partners, Bennet’s family... was Claude’s family, or as close as he knew he’d ever come. How many times did he have to talk himself out of contacting them? Too many. “I’ll think about it.”
The smile is wide now, and Noah even goes so far as clapping a hand on Claude’s shoulder, which he stoically endures. Bennet leaves with Candice, their taillights shrinking in the night.
Chapter Eight
Word Count: 1,501
Disclaimer: Heroes characters belong to Tim Kring.
A/N:
heroes_bigboom fic. Thanks for the beta, visiblemarket!Summary: Notorious-inspired AU set chronologically in S1, in which a past schism pits the Company against Primatech. To prevent Primatech from destroying New York City, Company agent Peter Petrelli enlists ex-agent Claude Rains.
Chapter Six
His ringing cell phone ruthlessly pries Peter out of a post-orgasm coma. It’s an effort just to lift his head and try to squint the sleep from his eyes. It’s just plain cruel that he has to stand up and walk all the way across the room to access the pants pocket containing his phone.
Matters aren’t improved by Claude rolling over and sitting up, bracing his arms on the mattress and giving Peter a wholly unprofessional leer from beneath tousled hair.
“Hi, Nathan,” Peter says, desperately hoping he sounds normal.
“Peter, you sound a little hoarse, are you okay?”
He grimaces, and manages to tear his eyes away from Claude, who is now sliding out of the sheets. “I’m fine. What’s going on?”
“Has Claude contacted you in the last four hours?”
A pair of warm palms running over his shoulders and down his arms short-circuits his brain. “Uh...”
“Listen,” Nathan mercifully continues, “Bennet’s told us Thompson got wind of Claude.”
“Oh.” Claude’s mouth drops to Peter’s neck. “Oh...”
“Yeah, ‘oh,’ but we might have a solution. Thompson knows Claude’s in town, but he doesn’t know he’s working for us. So we’re thinking if he can get Thompson to believe he’s interested in going back to Primatech, he’d be in an even better position to access the information we need.”
“That... that’s good...” Nathan really doesn’t have to know Peter’s referring to Claude wrapping his arms around the empath’s waist and pressing his body from chin to ankle against him.
“Okay, so bring Claude in, explain the situation and the new plan. Have him call us for further instructions. Got it?”
“Uh huh... sure... Soon as I see him.” Peter twists in Claude’s arms to reach his mouth for a quickly given kiss.
The cell phone dangling in his hand emits a sigh. “Peter, would you try to focus here? This is kind of important.”
Claude snags the phone from limp fingers and holds it to his ear, saying, “Hey, Nathan? Everything you just said Pete and I already know, so why don’t you bugger off and let us get back to shagging? I’m still discovering how delightfully flexible our Peter is. So long.”
The phone beeps, and Claude levels an evil grin at Peter, who stares at the device like it’s a ticking bomb.
A few seconds pass, and Claude’s grin fades. “I hung up before I said all that, okay? ‘M not that stupid.” A few more seconds, and Claude starts to look truly aggrieved, “I did, honestly! Don’t ya’ believe me?”
Peter gives him an inscrutable look. “I believe you. You think my brother wouldn’t bother calling back if you didn’t?”
Claude rolls his eyes, but lets out a sharp laugh and tightens his hold on Peter. “Bloody Petrellis. Should’ve known what I was in for.”
“Just keeping you on your toes.”
Claude sobers. “Gonna have to be, won’t I? For this next bit.”
“Yeah.” Peter slips out of Claude’s arms and starts gathering his clothes. Nathan’s call has brought the enormity of the situation back to the forefront of his mind- whatever it is that’s going on between him and Claude has got to wait. “So, there’s no way Primatech will take you back and let you in on their plans right away. Got any ideas for getting into their good graces?”
“Sure. I’ll fix their mole problem.”
“Take out Noah Bennet. That could work- they already suspect him.” He pauses, “You’re not going to actually kill him, right?”
Claude smirks. “Tempting, but I hadn’t planned to. We’ll put a call in to big brother, see how he’d like to arrange things.”
“Yeah, okay.” Peter pulls on his shirt and stands facing Claude, hands on his hips and a look of decided resolve on his face.
Claude blinks a few times and smiles ruefully. “And here I was thinkin’ of saying something like, ‘In the meantime, dot dot dot.’ Suppose we had a fun afternoon and now all that’s off the table, then.”
Peter winces, and finds himself shuffling. “Well, I mean, we’ve got a lot to do, right? Now that things are... different... We shouldn’t really be... you know. Not that-”
Claude holds up his hands. “No, no, I see. Always better to know where one stands, wouldn’t you say?” He steps around Peter, snatching up his own clothes.
The empath frowns, trying to figure out how and how badly he managed to mess things up and if he trusts himself to try using words again to fix it, but Claude’s already dialing on his cell phone.
***
The night seems all the darker after the sun-filled California day. This back road out in the hills has no streetlamps, so Peter leaves the headlights on in his rented car. Claude leans against the grill, and Peter hops up to sit on the hood.
Claude feels eyes on him several times for the next twenty minutes or so, but Peter says nothing, so neither does he. At last another pair of headlights appears on the road. “Here they come,” Peter says needlessly. Claude crosses his arms over his chest and thinks of the explosion.
The other car stops and two people climb out- a young, thin woman with dark hair and a middle-aged man of no remarkable description aside from perhaps his old-fashioned horn-rimmed glasses. “Claude,” Noah Bennet says.
Claude gives a short nod. It’s the best he can manage.
Noah shifts his gaze, “Peter, how are things?”
“Fine for us. How about you? What was the situation like at Primatech?”
“Excited enough to let a suspected double agent hear about the reappearance of the infamous invisible man.” He pauses, “Well, I suppose it’s confirmed double agent now.”
“Ruined your reputation well enough before you left?” Claude asks.
Noah looks at him steadily. “You’ll be their knight in shining armor.”
Claude bares his teeth in a grin, “Right then, let’s get started.” He turns to the young woman, “I assume you’re the agent the Company sent along?”
She nods, “That’s right. I’m Candice Wilmer.”
“Cheers. Into the ditch with you then, Bennet.”
Noah steps off the road and clambers into a muddy ditch about four feet away, where he lies down.
Claude glances from Noah to Candice and furrows his brow. “Explain t’me again why a camera should see an illusion.”
She shrugs. “It just does. You want me to do it or not?”
“And make it snappy, would you, Claude?” Noah chimes in. “It’s wet down here.”
Claude moves to snap a retort, or maybe just kill Bennet himself and have done with it once and for all, but he catches a glimpse of Peter’s quickly hidden laughter and contains himself. “Fine, fine,” he grumbles, “Only risking my life here, nothing to get overly concerned about.” He turns to Candice again, “But you’re sure, yeah? They won’t be able to- run it through a scanner or somethin’ an’ tell it’s fake.”
“It hasn’t happened to me yet.”
Since you look about thirteen years old that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, Claude doesn’t say. He reminds himself that a person with Candice’s abilities can look however they damn well please. Accessing his ability, he casts a glance at her to see if there is a mask to look under. She’s very good indeed.
Candice inches her way into the ditch and crouches next to Bennet’s prone form. Then she disappears, and an angry red hole appears on Bennet’s forehead. His face is slack and pale, his chest unmoving. Claude holds up his cell phone and takes several pictures. It’s not nearly as satisfying as he imagined it would be. “Okay, all done.”
Candice reappears, already moving away. The corpse of Noah Bennet is replaced by the living man, who also climbs to his feet and out of the ditch. “Claude,” he says.
As much as he’d like not to, he replies, “Yeah?”
“I wanted to thank you, for this.”
Claude frowns, “What do you mean?”
Noah gives a half-smile. “I’m finally getting out. Like Haram. Like you. After what I did- to you, I became the Company’s double agent. And it’s been... as difficult and dangerous as I deserve.”
Claude rolls his eyes. “Yeah, okay, r-Bennet. Run along now.”
He takes a step away, but Noah holds up a hand, “One more thing. I’d appreciate it if, after all this is done, you could come say hello to Sandra and the kids. Is there a remote chance that would be possible?”
Claude stares at Noah, feeling not a bit like he’s been punched in the gut. When they were partners, Bennet’s family... was Claude’s family, or as close as he knew he’d ever come. How many times did he have to talk himself out of contacting them? Too many. “I’ll think about it.”
The smile is wide now, and Noah even goes so far as clapping a hand on Claude’s shoulder, which he stoically endures. Bennet leaves with Candice, their taillights shrinking in the night.
Chapter Eight
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 01:15 am (UTC)I was glad to work in Candice, if only for another little dose of estrogen in this sausage fest.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 01:43 am (UTC)Well, Elle also made an appearance, as did Claire (adorably).
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 01:46 am (UTC)Yeah, and Angela gets a line, but that's it. *sigh* Oh show.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 01:50 am (UTC)Well, it was a significant line! Or at least where Claude figured out who Peter was.