Heroes: Incognito (11/12)
Sep. 26th, 2010 06:09 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: 1,852
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 Ten
Claude thinks he might be whimpering. He tries to stop, but his head... It’s like it’s been hit with a hammer dipped in acid.
The ringing in his right ear is the loudest thing he’s ever heard, and he can’t get away from it. He can barely move at all. He cracks his eyes open, and feels a stab of fresh panic. There’s something wrong with his vision. A few highly tentative experiments tell him it’s his right eye that’s been damaged, the view gone foggy. But not foggy enough to completely obscure the man sitting beside him.
“She packs quite a wallop, doesn’t she?” Thompson inquires, voice considerately raised over the ringing. “You’re lucky- caught a glancing blow, just a punctured eardrum and a bleeding retina.”
Claude tries to turn his head, and bites back a cry.
“Oh, and a second degree burn, that too. Ouch. Hope you didn’t like that haircut.”
Claude has established that he’s in some medical ward, but he’d be shocked if it was a hospital. No, he might as well come to terms with it now. This is Primatech, he’s their prisoner. It’s all over. “You didn’t... you didn’t get Claire... did you.”
He almost thinks he sees the smile slide off Thompson’s face. Maybe it’s just a trick of the hemorrhage. “No, as a matter of fact.” He sighs and shakes his head, “Claude. How could you do that to me? You made me look like a fool.”
“Wasn’t hard.”
“Now that’s just rude. But I suppose I’ll forgive you. I mean, it’s the least I can do considering what you’ve got coming.”
Claude breathes out slowly through his nose. He won’t rise to the bait, as if he needs to. They were going to dissect Claire, find out her secrets. Claude didn’t save her, he took her place.
“In the meantime,” Thompson continues as he stands, “We’ll let you rest up. Research doesn’t like broken toys.”
He leaves and Claude rolls his eyes. If I’m going to be subjected to more lines like that I might as well top myself at the first opportunity. Bad joke accomplished, he settles back to see if Peter cares enough to call in the Company and save his sorry arse. He thinks he does. Claude shuts his eyes to wait, and the sleep of the adrenaline-crashed quickly claims him.
He grimaces and cringes away from a hand shaking his arm, sending shudders through his whole misused body. “Get off me...”
“Claude Rains,” says a young, unfamiliar voice. Claude opens his eyes to find an Asian man peering at him. The man smiles, “You’re awake.”
It takes Claude a few seconds to recognize the Japanese words and respond in kind, “I do not think I am.”
The stranger frowns in confusion, but says, “I’m Nakamura Hiro.”
“Nakamura...? Did you come from the Company?” It’s not much of a rescue team, but Claude won’t complain...
Hiro nods, “I have a message for you.”
Claude tries to sit up, “A message? You are not freeing me?”
Hiro shakes his head, again with a faint look of confusion. “Your assignment isn’t finished. I was sent with information to help you. From Nathan Petrelli, a month from now.”
“A month-?” Claude sags. In English he says, “You’re a bloody time-traveler. Fantastic. Only thing worse than precogs.”
“Nathan Petrelli says you must find Ted Sprague. He’s very important to Primatech’s plan to destroy New York.”
“How? Will he sell a bomb to them? Or make it?”
Another head-shake, “He is the bomb.”
That brings Claude up short. “So they have locked him away, waiting for the right time.”
“Level five, Research Division.”
“And I have to free him alone.”
Hiro frowns. “No-” he begins, but the door starts to open. Hiro’s gone in the blink of an eye.
Thompson marches into the room, and he’s definitely not smiling as the door swings shut behind him. “Where is he? This room has a security camera- we saw Nakamura. What did he tell you?”
Claude shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine. My Japanese is a little rusty, an’ you might recall I was already hearin’ it through a punctured eardrum.”
The grin returns in a sarcastic rictus, “Sure, okay. Whatever he said, it doesn’t matter. You’re going down to Research, and you’re never coming back. They’re going to take you apart piece by piece until there’s nothing left. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll-”
Thompson suddenly lurches sideways and vanishes. Claude starts and wonders for a second if Hiro didn’t somehow teleport him elsewhere, until he hears grunts of effort and sees medical equipment against the wall shudder from an unseen impact. He focuses his ability through his damaged vision and tries not to show the camera the happy shock he feels on seeing an invisible Peter wrestling Thompson into a blind corner. Peter has his hand clamped over the man’s mouth as a gun jammed in his side keeps the rest of him from causing too much trouble.
“Hi, Mister Thompson,” Peter says calmly. “Let’s keep this simple- if you don’t want to die, stay still and stay quiet. Can you do that?”
Thompson’s face has gone red with rage, but he eventually stops struggling against Peter’s grip.
“Great, I’m glad we could work that out.” Peter keeps hold of Thompson, but looks to Claude. “Are you okay?”
“Could be worse. I took a bolt of electricity to the head, so my vision and hearing are about fifty percent on the right side.”
“Got it. Let’s go get you some real medical attention. Mister Thompson, you’ll be leading the way-”
“Wait, Pete, we can’t leave yet,” Claude says.
The empath’s brow furrows. “What do you mean? We have to. I’m sure someone will realize something’s up any minute now. I’m not even supposed to be here. Nathan told me-”
“Yeah, well Nathan told me we need to get down to level five and spring a man named Ted Sprague.”
Both Peter and Thompson stare at him in different shades of surprise. The former seems to pick up on the latter’s extra tension. “He’s involved with the explosion?”
“He is the explosion. Some bad ability- either naturally that powerful or made that way by these lunatics. Job’s not over yet, mate.”
With a muffled exclamation Thompson renews his struggle against Peter, who holds tight and says, “Okay, that’s enough. Change of plans. You’re not taking us out of here, you’re taking us to level five first. Or I’ll shoot you, which I’ll also do if you make any trouble or tip anyone off on the way there. Understand?”
Thompson gives a stone-faced nod.
They end up walking down the halls of Primatech with loose handcuffs around Claude’s wrists and a bag over his head, and Peter’s gun pressed firmly against Thompson’s spine. Claude listens as best he can to the world beyond the white fabric and hears no sign that Peter has been detected. They enter an elevator and begin the descent to level five.
“You know, your father only ever wanted the best for you, Peter,” Thompson remarks.
“Just take us to Ted Sprague,” Peter grinds out. Claude tries to put aside the flash of worry he feels. Peter will either get through this or he won’t- Claude has to focus on his own actions.
The lowest level of Primatech is cold, and Claude finds the irony in this hellish place. Thompson leads them down a long hallway and into a room. Claude hears a confused voice say, “Mister Thompson-?” before he goes invisible, slips out of the handcuffs, and pulls the bag off of his head.
He’s in one of Research Division’s examination rooms, which is already occupied by two lab techs and an unconscious man lying on a table, wired to four separate machines that stand near his head. Claude is in motion before the lab techs can do anything but jump in surprise. He’s not at his best with half his vision telling him the room is filled with fog, but these techs are no agents and he takes them down without extraordinary effort.
Peter passes him the gun so he can keep it trained on Thompson while the empath goes to Sprague’s side. He quickly but carefully removes the wires connecting Sprague to the machines. Claude keeps his attention on Thompson, but can make out the soft sounds of conversation- one half bewildered and frightened, the other reassuring- as Sprague wakes up and Peter explains the situation.
“He- he’s one of them?” Sprague says, and there’s a dark anger in his voice that draws Claude’s gaze. He’s sitting up on the table, with a murderous glare directed straight at Thompson. As Claude watches, Sprague’s hands start to glow with a bright white light edged in orange and red.
“Ted- Ted, listen,” Peter says, putting his hands on the other man’s shoulders. “You have to calm down. You have to stay calm so we can get you out of here. Please.”
Sprague’s eyes close and he seems to be pulling his ability back in check as the light drains from his hands. Claude breathes out again.
“That’s great, Ted, perfect. Thank you. Okay, let’s get you off this thing and get moving.”
It’s easier said than done. Sprague must have been in captivity for a while, and unconscious for most of it. He needs Peter to support him as he climbs off the table and takes a few ginger steps. Claude grips Thompson’s shoulder, making them invisible as they turn around to leave. “We’ll get out of your hair now, mate, just as soon as you walk us to the door.”
All four of them are invisible now as they move through Primatech at a pace Sprague can handle. Primatech never kept regular office hours, agents come and go as their individual assignments dictate, but the building is still more active during the day. Claude’s glad it’s past midnight now, when anyone who is awake most likely has something more important to think about than the unexpected breeze that passes them in the hallway.
Claude feels Thompson looking at him on their way out, and finds himself wondering if the man really is hurt by his second betrayal. Stranger things have happened. But somehow I don’t think the dissection he promised is the fitting punishment.
They reach the front door, and Claude nudges Thompson’s back with the gun when he hesitates to go through it. “Nearly there, Eric, nearly there.”
“You might as well shoot me now, Claude. I will come after you for this. I’ll come after you, and I’ll find you. You never should’ve shown your face, now you’ve got nowhere to hide. You’ll see how Primatech deals with traitors-”
“You first.” Claude shoves Thompson away from him and pockets the gun, turning visible to say, “Thanks for all your help, Eric, you’ve been brilliant. We’ll be on our way now.”
He spins on his heel to follow Peter and Ted into the waiting car that has René behind the wheel, leaving Thompson to explain himself to Primatech.
Chapter Twelve
Word Count: 1,852
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 Ten
Claude thinks he might be whimpering. He tries to stop, but his head... It’s like it’s been hit with a hammer dipped in acid.
The ringing in his right ear is the loudest thing he’s ever heard, and he can’t get away from it. He can barely move at all. He cracks his eyes open, and feels a stab of fresh panic. There’s something wrong with his vision. A few highly tentative experiments tell him it’s his right eye that’s been damaged, the view gone foggy. But not foggy enough to completely obscure the man sitting beside him.
“She packs quite a wallop, doesn’t she?” Thompson inquires, voice considerately raised over the ringing. “You’re lucky- caught a glancing blow, just a punctured eardrum and a bleeding retina.”
Claude tries to turn his head, and bites back a cry.
“Oh, and a second degree burn, that too. Ouch. Hope you didn’t like that haircut.”
Claude has established that he’s in some medical ward, but he’d be shocked if it was a hospital. No, he might as well come to terms with it now. This is Primatech, he’s their prisoner. It’s all over. “You didn’t... you didn’t get Claire... did you.”
He almost thinks he sees the smile slide off Thompson’s face. Maybe it’s just a trick of the hemorrhage. “No, as a matter of fact.” He sighs and shakes his head, “Claude. How could you do that to me? You made me look like a fool.”
“Wasn’t hard.”
“Now that’s just rude. But I suppose I’ll forgive you. I mean, it’s the least I can do considering what you’ve got coming.”
Claude breathes out slowly through his nose. He won’t rise to the bait, as if he needs to. They were going to dissect Claire, find out her secrets. Claude didn’t save her, he took her place.
“In the meantime,” Thompson continues as he stands, “We’ll let you rest up. Research doesn’t like broken toys.”
He leaves and Claude rolls his eyes. If I’m going to be subjected to more lines like that I might as well top myself at the first opportunity. Bad joke accomplished, he settles back to see if Peter cares enough to call in the Company and save his sorry arse. He thinks he does. Claude shuts his eyes to wait, and the sleep of the adrenaline-crashed quickly claims him.
He grimaces and cringes away from a hand shaking his arm, sending shudders through his whole misused body. “Get off me...”
“Claude Rains,” says a young, unfamiliar voice. Claude opens his eyes to find an Asian man peering at him. The man smiles, “You’re awake.”
It takes Claude a few seconds to recognize the Japanese words and respond in kind, “I do not think I am.”
The stranger frowns in confusion, but says, “I’m Nakamura Hiro.”
“Nakamura...? Did you come from the Company?” It’s not much of a rescue team, but Claude won’t complain...
Hiro nods, “I have a message for you.”
Claude tries to sit up, “A message? You are not freeing me?”
Hiro shakes his head, again with a faint look of confusion. “Your assignment isn’t finished. I was sent with information to help you. From Nathan Petrelli, a month from now.”
“A month-?” Claude sags. In English he says, “You’re a bloody time-traveler. Fantastic. Only thing worse than precogs.”
“Nathan Petrelli says you must find Ted Sprague. He’s very important to Primatech’s plan to destroy New York.”
“How? Will he sell a bomb to them? Or make it?”
Another head-shake, “He is the bomb.”
That brings Claude up short. “So they have locked him away, waiting for the right time.”
“Level five, Research Division.”
“And I have to free him alone.”
Hiro frowns. “No-” he begins, but the door starts to open. Hiro’s gone in the blink of an eye.
Thompson marches into the room, and he’s definitely not smiling as the door swings shut behind him. “Where is he? This room has a security camera- we saw Nakamura. What did he tell you?”
Claude shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine. My Japanese is a little rusty, an’ you might recall I was already hearin’ it through a punctured eardrum.”
The grin returns in a sarcastic rictus, “Sure, okay. Whatever he said, it doesn’t matter. You’re going down to Research, and you’re never coming back. They’re going to take you apart piece by piece until there’s nothing left. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll-”
Thompson suddenly lurches sideways and vanishes. Claude starts and wonders for a second if Hiro didn’t somehow teleport him elsewhere, until he hears grunts of effort and sees medical equipment against the wall shudder from an unseen impact. He focuses his ability through his damaged vision and tries not to show the camera the happy shock he feels on seeing an invisible Peter wrestling Thompson into a blind corner. Peter has his hand clamped over the man’s mouth as a gun jammed in his side keeps the rest of him from causing too much trouble.
“Hi, Mister Thompson,” Peter says calmly. “Let’s keep this simple- if you don’t want to die, stay still and stay quiet. Can you do that?”
Thompson’s face has gone red with rage, but he eventually stops struggling against Peter’s grip.
“Great, I’m glad we could work that out.” Peter keeps hold of Thompson, but looks to Claude. “Are you okay?”
“Could be worse. I took a bolt of electricity to the head, so my vision and hearing are about fifty percent on the right side.”
“Got it. Let’s go get you some real medical attention. Mister Thompson, you’ll be leading the way-”
“Wait, Pete, we can’t leave yet,” Claude says.
The empath’s brow furrows. “What do you mean? We have to. I’m sure someone will realize something’s up any minute now. I’m not even supposed to be here. Nathan told me-”
“Yeah, well Nathan told me we need to get down to level five and spring a man named Ted Sprague.”
Both Peter and Thompson stare at him in different shades of surprise. The former seems to pick up on the latter’s extra tension. “He’s involved with the explosion?”
“He is the explosion. Some bad ability- either naturally that powerful or made that way by these lunatics. Job’s not over yet, mate.”
With a muffled exclamation Thompson renews his struggle against Peter, who holds tight and says, “Okay, that’s enough. Change of plans. You’re not taking us out of here, you’re taking us to level five first. Or I’ll shoot you, which I’ll also do if you make any trouble or tip anyone off on the way there. Understand?”
Thompson gives a stone-faced nod.
They end up walking down the halls of Primatech with loose handcuffs around Claude’s wrists and a bag over his head, and Peter’s gun pressed firmly against Thompson’s spine. Claude listens as best he can to the world beyond the white fabric and hears no sign that Peter has been detected. They enter an elevator and begin the descent to level five.
“You know, your father only ever wanted the best for you, Peter,” Thompson remarks.
“Just take us to Ted Sprague,” Peter grinds out. Claude tries to put aside the flash of worry he feels. Peter will either get through this or he won’t- Claude has to focus on his own actions.
The lowest level of Primatech is cold, and Claude finds the irony in this hellish place. Thompson leads them down a long hallway and into a room. Claude hears a confused voice say, “Mister Thompson-?” before he goes invisible, slips out of the handcuffs, and pulls the bag off of his head.
He’s in one of Research Division’s examination rooms, which is already occupied by two lab techs and an unconscious man lying on a table, wired to four separate machines that stand near his head. Claude is in motion before the lab techs can do anything but jump in surprise. He’s not at his best with half his vision telling him the room is filled with fog, but these techs are no agents and he takes them down without extraordinary effort.
Peter passes him the gun so he can keep it trained on Thompson while the empath goes to Sprague’s side. He quickly but carefully removes the wires connecting Sprague to the machines. Claude keeps his attention on Thompson, but can make out the soft sounds of conversation- one half bewildered and frightened, the other reassuring- as Sprague wakes up and Peter explains the situation.
“He- he’s one of them?” Sprague says, and there’s a dark anger in his voice that draws Claude’s gaze. He’s sitting up on the table, with a murderous glare directed straight at Thompson. As Claude watches, Sprague’s hands start to glow with a bright white light edged in orange and red.
“Ted- Ted, listen,” Peter says, putting his hands on the other man’s shoulders. “You have to calm down. You have to stay calm so we can get you out of here. Please.”
Sprague’s eyes close and he seems to be pulling his ability back in check as the light drains from his hands. Claude breathes out again.
“That’s great, Ted, perfect. Thank you. Okay, let’s get you off this thing and get moving.”
It’s easier said than done. Sprague must have been in captivity for a while, and unconscious for most of it. He needs Peter to support him as he climbs off the table and takes a few ginger steps. Claude grips Thompson’s shoulder, making them invisible as they turn around to leave. “We’ll get out of your hair now, mate, just as soon as you walk us to the door.”
All four of them are invisible now as they move through Primatech at a pace Sprague can handle. Primatech never kept regular office hours, agents come and go as their individual assignments dictate, but the building is still more active during the day. Claude’s glad it’s past midnight now, when anyone who is awake most likely has something more important to think about than the unexpected breeze that passes them in the hallway.
Claude feels Thompson looking at him on their way out, and finds himself wondering if the man really is hurt by his second betrayal. Stranger things have happened. But somehow I don’t think the dissection he promised is the fitting punishment.
They reach the front door, and Claude nudges Thompson’s back with the gun when he hesitates to go through it. “Nearly there, Eric, nearly there.”
“You might as well shoot me now, Claude. I will come after you for this. I’ll come after you, and I’ll find you. You never should’ve shown your face, now you’ve got nowhere to hide. You’ll see how Primatech deals with traitors-”
“You first.” Claude shoves Thompson away from him and pockets the gun, turning visible to say, “Thanks for all your help, Eric, you’ve been brilliant. We’ll be on our way now.”
He spins on his heel to follow Peter and Ted into the waiting car that has René behind the wheel, leaving Thompson to explain himself to Primatech.
Chapter Twelve
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Date: 2010-10-01 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 01:40 am (UTC)