Legacy - 2
A/N: Unbeta’d. I'll update with edits once I receive them, I just couldn't wait. Strike another one up for impatience :)
“Oh?” I raise an eyebrow. “I’ve heard of you. Seeing how you’re not trying to take my head off yet, I take it you’ve been looking for me for other reasons than the obvious.”
Sylar smirks at me, and I want to laugh. Amateur. I’d perfected that look over two hundred years ago. If he thinks it’s going to work on me, he’s underestimated me. The smirk fades when he sees that it has no effect, and he growls out “I have a business proposition for you.”
“Get me some food, and I’ll at least listen to your ideas.” My stomach is killing me, and food is quickly becoming a necessity. If he’s going to buy me a pastry, I’ll listen. If he buys me a sandwich, I’ll follow him to the ends of the earth.
He offers me his hand again and then rolls his eyes when I don’t take it. “I don’t want to hold your hand; I want to get out of this godforsaken graveyard. I though it might be a good idea to go somewhere a bit less conspicuous. Of course, if you don’t want to…” he trails off.
I quickly grab his hand, and we’re gone in a flash. It’s similar to when I’ve teleported with the carp before, but feels just slightly different; hard to describe the sensation, but with Hiro, the world would dissolve into a wash of color that left my head and stomach spinning. Sylar’s teleportation, on the other hand, is cold and dark and there’s this intense pressure around the ribs, like I’m being squeezed by a tight fist. It’s not very pleasant, but it’s a quick form of transportation.
When I open my eyes again, we’re in what looks like a fairly nice, if just slightly outdated, motel room. Sylar immediately drops my hand and grabs the telephone, calling room service and ordering what sounds like everything on the menu, and my mouth waters at the thought.
“Thank you.” I express my gratitude as soon as he hangs up the phone. “Where are we, by the way?”
“Really, Adam, that’s all you can think of to ask, where are we? Here’s a better question for you - when are we?”
Clever, clever boy, this Sylar is. “Let me guess, a time and place where no one’s looking for me or you?”
He smiles, an honest smile, but that’s all I get in a way of an answer.
“I have to admit, other than Peter Petrelli I’ve never met anyone with multiple unrelated powers before…” Before I can finish the question, he waves his hand and I find myself sprawling on a wall.
“Here’s some advice if you want to continue your long life. Don’t ever compare me to that boy scout. Ever.”
I think I’ve found a sore spot for Mr. Sylar. “Ah. So you’ve met Peter too. He does have that effect on people, I have to admit. To know him is to not love him, all that jazz. I understand completely. Mind letting me down now?”
He nods, and I drop to the floor. As gracefully as I can, I pick myself up and take one of the chairs. “So, what’s this business proposition?”
Taking the other chair, Sylar lays out his plans. “I think it would be safe to say that you have a bone to pick with Hiro Nakamura, correct?”
My hand tightens into a fist before I can think, and Sylar laughs. “Yes, the carp and I definitely have a few things to discuss.” Like how he stole my woman and then buried me alive. Those are definitely topics that I want to discuss - at length - with him at some point in the near future.
Sylar’s eyes turn cold when he tells me “You’re not the only one. He stabbed me, almost killed me. I want to propose that we work together to get him. I help you find him, you can kill him, and I get his brain. Quid pro quo, we work together and take him down.”
I lean back, more secure in the bargaining now. Sylar must need me or he wouldn’t be offering a partnership. “What if I don’t want him dead? What if I just want to torture him a bit and then let him go?”
“Torture’s so messy.” A slightly pained look crosses Sylar’s face. I wonder if he’s thinking of how he’d tortured some of his own victims, or if he’s imaging the mess that someone’s going to have to clean up. “But if you must… I’ll pop all three of us back a few years in time - you can torture him to your heart’s content, but I still get his powers in the end. Deal?”
“What’s the catch?” No one ever makes an offer like this without there being something hidden in the fine print.
Sylar gives me a hard look, then sighs. “We don’t go after Hiro first. We take down the Petrellis, you and me, and then Hiro. All of the adult Petrellis.”
Intriguing. I wonder what exactly Peter’s done to Sylar to make him want to go after the entire family. “Why not Hiro first?”
“Besides the obvious point that once Hiro’s gone, you won’t need me anymore? There’s also the fact that I don’t think I can take on Hiro without St. Peter’s powers. I can’t freeze time - and Hiro knows that. Teleportation, sure, but in a battle with Hiro, he’ll just stop the clock and you’ll end up in your grave again, only with me for company this time.”
It’s obvious that Sylar’s taken the time to work out all the pertinent details, and I can’t fault his reasoning. That little time power of Hiro’s is what bested me the last time, and if Sylar’s right, then we’ve found a way around it. “Is that all?”
A knock on the door interrupts our conversation, and Sylar pushes himself up out of his chair and lets the hotel employee in with our feast. I lick my lips as I take in the juicy cheeseburger and the huge ice cream sundae, and I attack the platter nearest me before the door is even closed.
“Please, do help yourself.” Sylar says wryly. “There might be a slight payback element to the plan. I owe the Petrelli brothers for certain events a year and a half ago. I’m sure you’re not pleased with Peter either, and rumor has it that you’ve been wanting to kill Angela Petrelli for awhile now.”
Angela. That bitch. Sometimes, when I was bored and didn’t want to think of my families, I thought of the one hundred and ten things I’d do to her if I got free before she died from old age. “I can’t argue with any of that. Of course, you didn’t mention that every time you’ve gone up against Peter you lose. You need me for that too, don’t you?”
He rips into his sandwich violently, and I know I’ve found another sore point.
“I’m right. You don’t stand a chance against Peter, and you know it.” It’s fun to poke at his weaknesses; I know he needs me too badly to kill me permanently, and ‘bait the murderer’ is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. “You and me, super-villains of the world united, tag-teaming one little Petrelli. I like the idea.”
“Please don’t ever use the phrase ‘super-villains of the world united’ again, I’d hate to have to kill you out of sheer annoyance. It would be such a waste.” Sylar takes another bite of his sandwich, and then turns back to me. “You’ll do it?” He tries to hide the hope in his voice, but like I said earlier, he’s an amateur, a child playing against a Machiavellian master. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed it, I’m sure.
“I’m assuming you’ll want the same deal with Hiro - one of us kills them, probably me, and then you get their powers?”
“Yes.” There’s a glint in his eyes that I know is due to the thought of having all those powers. Most men look at unattainable women, or expensive sports cars, or money that way. Sylar’s not most men, but I know what motivates him now, and I know how to use it against him.
“Just Angela, Nathan, and Peter?” I know about Peter’s little niece, Peter had told me about her, and I wonder if she’s immune from Sylar’s desires or if he’s not planning on mentioning how he wants powers similar to mine.
He hesitates, and I have my answer. “There might be another family member or two. No one important.”
Sure, I believe that. “You mean you don’t want the girl’s powers before going up against Peter and Hiro?” I ask as innocently as I can.
“We’re not going to kill her.”
We’re not? This seems entirely contrary to everything I know about Sylar, and I suddenly find myself intrigued by both him and the girl. “What’s the plan then?”
“Angela first, then Nathan, and then Peter. After Peter, we go after Hiro. Are you in then?” He asks again.
Sounds like a good plan to me. “As long as you let me do the honors for Angela and Hiro, yes. I honestly don’t care who gets Peter and his brother.”
I wipe the juice from the cheeseburger off of my hand onto a nearby paper napkin, and hold out my hand. With a simple handshake, the deal is done, and I find that I have a partner yet again. Every other partner I’ve ever had has betrayed me, the prime examples being Hiro and Peter, and I wonder how I’m going to be stabbed in the back this time. We’re too similar, he and I, and I know that I can never trust someone that’s just like me. Who would, who could?