March 2007, Mistake

[ellectrical]

The window is the first thing she feels; sunlight on her eyes and that plastic-glass feeling rubbed up against her forehead. Her shoulders slip forward with a swerving motion, and she tugs just slightly at her hands again. This time, something binds them together, and she notices adhesive prickling her skin.

It's his first mistake. And it means it won't be his last.

Elle doesn't open her eyes yet, knows there's no point in it, and it's better to appear as though she's still unconscious. But it's only a moment before the car breaks abruptly, and she nearly falls forward, until something catches her shoulder to hold her back.

She opens her eyes to Bennet, to the gun he's holding in his right hand, and she doesn't say anything.

The front door slams shut, the door she'd been slumped against opens, and Bennet nudges her to get out. Elle doesn't fight it, it's not time yet, there's no reason to let him know what he's done. They walk around the car (she notices for the first time that her shoes have returned) and stand in front. Her father isn't here yet, but Elle glances at Bennet, and he doesn't look impatient.

"What kind of car do you drive?"

He's speaking to the boy, who looks perplexed by it. Even Elle glances sideways.

"Excuse me?"

"I know you can fly, but you're still a teenager, you do have a car, right?"

She returns to her train of thought, after briefly letting herself wonder how she was captured by these two, which mainly involves what it has all along:

How to do the fucking job.

They're barely done speaking when the black van rolls in. She can see her father in the passenger seat, but doesn't want to look at him for too long; her gaze drops to the cement, to the waves nearby –

"Once we get Claire, you fly her out immediately, no matter what else happens."

The doors of the van are slamming. It's his second mistake.

"You understand me?"

The boy nods, "Yes sir."

Elle is thinking the same thing.

Her father moves to the back of the van, sliding the door open and reaching in to pull out a girl. Elle knows who she is the moment she sees her, that her father managed to do his part. The cheerleading uniform is bright blue now, her blonde hair all straight and she looks between them, seeming as confused as she is angry. Her hands are also pulled behind her, but Elle's father lifts a small pair of shears.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Noah," he calls, and cuts Claire Bennet's binds, letting her walk toward them with her arms free.

Bennet doesn't do the same for Elle, just pushes her forward. She can understand it – Claire can heal herself.

She's hardly dangerous. And in a few moments, it won't matter.

But as she's walking toward the other side, measuring her steps again, Elle's gaze still avoids her father. She eyes Claire as they pass, the closest she's ever been to her, whose ability she's already seen in two others.

The truth is, she doesn't see how this girl could ever be anything like her.

And once they've passed, all she has to do is listen. To Claire's steps speed up, tennis shoes pounding on concrete and suddenly stop as she reaches him. Elle can't look at her father because she has to hear it, as Claire yells something to Bennet, and that rush of air –

It takes a few sparks for Elle to rip through the duct tape binding her wrists, and in one step she turns, electricity blazing through her arms and into her hands, collecting into a ball she tosses toward the sky with ease. A moment later, West Rosen and Claire Bennet drop out of the air.

"Claire!" She's already collecting more sparks in her hands, but Bennet doesn't have to worry, he knows what will happen to his daughter. It means he doesn't need to spare a second before lifting his gun, and firing.

She screams again as the bullet smashes through her arm, the sparks dying out instantly. She's not listening when her father calls out, slipping to the ground next to her, but she feels him pull her up against him, leaning to see her arm. He doesn't have long to look at her wound; Bennet's already advancing.

"No matter what I do, we'll always be running." His voice is almost shaking, but it's with anger. There's no uncertainty. "But if you die Bob, the Company dies with you."

That is Bennet's job. Elle knows why he won't stop.

"Please," Suresh's voice is weak. Elle can't see them anymore, she presses her hand against her arm and doesn't look up. "Don't do this."

The gun snaps, trigger ready, she always liked that sound.










I do not want you to die.

Really?



It's not Bennet. The gunfire comes from behind her, and there's nothing on her face – she would have blood and skin and bits of bone on her face if Bennet had fired. Elle knows this, knows that between her and her father, the only broken pieces are hers. Maybe she wouldn't be screaming.

Claire Bennet is screaming.

Elle looks up, hand still pressed against her arm. The sunlight catches the spray of blood from Bennet's face as he falls, red staining the shattered lens in his glasses. Tennis shoes are pounding against the concrete again, but the boy holds her back. He won't let her get any closer. After what must be less than a minute, he pulls her up, and they disappear, and Elle can't try to bring them down again. She's still looking at Bennet's fallen body, like she's never seen one before.

She doesn't understand why; she has and she's never been mesmerized by it, but now, in one moment, she knows she's not feeling anything. She realizes it.

And that's it. Her father pulls her up, taking out his cell phone at the same time to call for a crew to collect Bennet's body. Suresh takes more to move, but he helps her inside the back of the van, looking at her bullet wound although there's only so much he can do. Her father slams the door shut, blocking out the sunlight.

Suresh tears the tape off her wrists.





[ooc: Dialogue lifted from Heroes 2x09, "Cautionary Tales."]