2010-06-01 16:22![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thewatchmaker
thewatchmakerCharacter: Gabriel, Jarod, Mr/Dr. Raines and Sydney
Fandom: Heroes and the Pretender
Word count: 1972
Rating: R mentions of graphic violence
Prompt: PICTURE for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
heroes_contest
Norman Bates: Hate the smell of dampness, don't you? It's such a, I don't know, creepy smell. vol2.week40 forscifi_muses
Notes: The Pretender was another show NBC canceled at the end of season 4. It had a rich mythology. It was about special children being taken from their parents and trained to become anyone they wanted to be. The Center exploited those children. In this story, Samson Gray sold them Gabriel when he was 5.
The grainy image flickered on the screen. A fallen toy, a stuffed mouse or a bear, neither of the men watching the black and white movies cared what it was. Thick clouds of smoke curled around Dr. Raines, as he checked the monitors for Gabriel’s reactions to the stimulus. On the other side of the room, Sydney watched as Jarod absorbed the information.
Jarod was curious about the new boy. It’d been years since the Center had brought in someone new. He kept glancing over at Gabriel where the little boy was watching the screen through thick glasses. Gabriel was squirming, finding it hard to concentrate, and Jarod caught the shimmer of a tear running down his face.
“He’s not ready, Sydney,” Jarod said softly, so Raines wouldn’t hear him. “He’s only been here a few days. He hasn’t adjusted. He misses his parents.” Jarod knew that pain. He still missed his, after a dozen years he couldn’t remember what they looked like.
“I know, Jarod, but Raines won’t listen.” Sydney didn’t need to add as usual. Jarod was well aware of Dr. Raines impatience, and how little he cared about the children in his care.
“Let me talk to Gabriel. It might help. I’ll help him with the simulation.”
“I’ll ask Dr. Raines.” Sydney patted his Pretender on the shoulder and left him to his work.
Jarod leaned over the keys of the computer and started typing in his interpretation of the events that led to the loss of the toy, and where the authorities might be able to find the child who dropped it. The picture made him sad. Somewhere, someone was lost, and he knew what that felt like too.
Raines didn’t like being interfered with. He liked Sydney and Jarod less. “Gabriel is my subject, Sydney. We’ve never had one with his potential. His ability to process information and his intuition will make him a better Pretender than Jarod.”
“That may be true,” Sydney had to agree with him. “But the boy is terrified. If Jarod can get him past his fear, it would be better for the project. You know that. Let them talk. Jarod is very good with people.”
“The people we let him see. Fine.” Raines hit a button, and the film stopped looping. He ground his cigarette out and started plucking wires from Gabriel’s forehead. “Hold still, Gabriel.”
“I’m trying.” The little boy flinched when Raines got a chunk of his hair caught in the tape, and his breath hitched as he tried not to cry again. “I’m sorry.”
“I’ll do that, Dr. Raines,” Jarod said, stepping in to take Raines’ place next to Gabriel’s chair. “Hi, I’m Jarod. How old are you?”
“Hi.” Gabriel sniffled, then frowned when his glasses steamed up. “I’m Gabriel. I’m five.”
“I’m nineteen.” Jarod slipped Gabriel’s glasses off and polished them on the hem of his t-shirt. “Do you want to come with me to the library? I bet you like to read.”
“I love books.” Gabriel bit into his lip as he put his glasses back on, waiting while Jarod took off the rest of the electrodes. “He doesn’t like me.”
“That’s OK, Gabriel.” Jarod cast Raines a withering look. “He doesn’t like anyone, but I like you.” Jarod smiled when Gabriel did, helping the kid down from the high chair to lead him to the library.
“Have you been here a long time, Jarod?” Gabriel asked over the pile of books he’d collected.
“Since I was little.” Jarod remembered reading the same books when he was younger. When he was still allowed to read fantasy and make believe books for fun. “Sydney takes care of me now. Do you want to go home, Gabriel?”
“No.” He shook his head and the color drained from his face. “I can’t go back. My daddy, my daddy hurt my mommy. I saw him hurt her. There was blood on the window. I don’t know why he did that. I tried to be good, but he still gave me away. Why did he hurt my mommy, Jarod?”
“I don’t know, Gabriel.” Jarod reached over and brushed the boy’s almost black hair out of his eyes. “But if you don’t want to go home, you can make the Center your home.”
“You’ll be my friend, right?” Gabriel smiled up at Jarod as they walked to his new room. “I’m afraid of being alone.”
***
“Find him, Gabriel,” Raines wheezed from around the oxygen tubes in his nose. The years of constant smoking had caught up with him, forcing him to drag a tank with him everywhere. Gabriel always knew he was coming from the clicking of one of the wheels. “Find Jarod.”
“I will.” Gabriel stood up, slipping his arms through the black pea coat Raines had given him. “I’ll bring Jarod back, I promise. I’ll find him before Sydney can.”
“I know you will, Gabriel. You’re a hunter. You’re smarter and stronger than Jarod was. He ran away because you were too much competition.”
Gabriel looked at Raines and gave him a cold smile. He knew why Jarod left him. Jarod wanted to find his mother. Gabriel didn’t understand the need to find his family. But he did crave freedom. He hadn’t been allowed outside since Jarod ran away, and he had a lot he wanted to talk to big brother Jarod about.
“Gabriel,” Raines called after him as he reached the doors to the outside world. “Bring him back alive. We’ve invested too much into him to kill him.”
“I’ll try.” Gabriel stepped through the doors as soon as he heard the locks disengage. By the time the sun hit his face, he wasn’t Gabriel anymore. He was a hunter. He was Sylar, taking the name from the watch Raines wore; he shed the meek and mild persona like a snake shedding its skin.
***
Sylar walked through the library, running his fingertips over the spines of the books, picking up flashes of every person who had touched them before. Psychometry had been the last power Raines had fed him at the Center. He’d used it well, finding out the truth about so many, many things. If Raines had been smarter, he’d have given him some other special to feed on.
It still brought a smile to Sylar’s face, the horror in Sydney’s eyes when he caught him up to his wrists in someone’s skull. Raines had been thrilled, letting him absorb as many powers as he could while the body count rose.
“I know you’re here, Jarod. I can hear your heartbeat.” Sylar tilted his head, catching the subtle change in the Pretender’s breathing. He honed in on the sound, shifting invisible so he could come up behind the man who’d promised to look after him. “You’ll be amazed at what I’m capable of now. Tell me, big brother, did you miss me?”
“Gabriel!” Jarod jumped, knocking over a reading lamp before falling back against one of the tall shelves. “You scared me.” He was panting, but smiling when he reached out to pull the younger man into a hug. “Of course I missed you.”
Sylar returned the hug, and for a moment his eyes softened before he remembered the betrayal, the hours of torture he’d endured when Jarod was gone. “Then why didn’t you come back for me?”
“I wanted to, but I almost found my mother.”
“Your mother!” Sylar snapped pushing Jarod away from him, adding a wave of telekinesis to pin the older man to the floor. “Do you remember telling me stories of what we’d do when we got away? I do. Then you left me alone. No one was there to stop him!”
“I’m sorry, Gabriel.” Jarod tried to sit up, struggling against Sylar’s power. “How?”
“You’re sorry.” Sylar crouched along beside Jarod, tracing a fine line of telekinesis down his chest, cutting through fabric and a bit of skin. Jarod sucked in breath, wincing at the pain. “Gabriel’s not here anymore, Jarod. I’m Sylar now. Raines gave me the best toys to play with. Taught me how to live up to my true potential. He wants me to bring you back alive.”
“What did Raines do to you?” Jarod managed to fight the power enough to curl his fingers around Sylar’s wrist. “Tell me what he did.”
“He fed me. Gave me what I needed, what I craved. My father had it too. It’s why he cut my mother’s head open.” Sylar put his fingers over Jarod’s and smiled like a wolf. “You were so important to the Center, to Sydney, but I’m the most special now. I’m their Pretender. They don’t need you, and neither do I. Not anymore.”
***
“I’m very sorry, sir,” Sylar said, holding the blood soaked book behind his back while the sweeper team worked to clean up the mess he’d made. “He forced my hand. I know you wanted him alive.”
“That’s all right, Gabriel.” Raines clapped his hand on Sylar’s shoulder and started pulling him toward the door. “You did what you thought was best.”
“I did. I knew that bringing him back to the Center would be a mistake. He would have been detrimental to the program. You don’t need him, and with him dead he can’t cause anymore trouble.”
“That’s what you wanted him to do, wasn’t it?” Sydney stomped toward Raines and Sylar, his hands covered in Jarod’s blood. Sylar couldn’t keep from licking his lip at the sight of it. “You sent him to kill Jarod!”
“I sent him to bring Jarod back, something you and your team failed at, Sydney,” Raines said, giving into a coughing fit.
“I did what needed to be done to protect the Center, no more, no less.” Sylar stepped between the two men, and stared Sydney down much to his delight. “We better get you back to the Center, sir. The mildew from the books can’t be good for you.”
“He’s a murderer, Raines. You’ve turned him into a monster.”
“He didn’t turn me into anything I wasn’t meant to be, Sydney.” Sylar sneered at the man, then lowered his voice. “I explained that to Jarod. Would you like me to explain that to you too? With Jarod gone, I don’t see much need for you at the Center anymore.”
“Gabriel.” Raines tugged on his sleeve. “He’s last person you need to protect me from. But you’re right about the mildew. It’s making it hard for me to breathe. It’s time to go home.”
Sylar settled into the backseat next to Raines, watching as the rain pelted the tinted windows. When they were miles from the library he met the driver’s brown eyes in the rear view mirror and saw a small nod. Reaching inside of Raines chest, Sylar used his telekinesis to crush the man’s heart, smiling as his feet kicked at the floor as he struggled to live.
“I wish you hadn’t had to do that, Gabriel,” Jarod said, as he pulled the car over and Sylar rolled Raines body out into a mud filled ditch.
“We didn’t have any other choice. They’ll know you’re not dead by now. As soon as I was out of range, the illusion would fade. You’re the one who wouldn’t let me use someone else’s body for yours.”
“I know, but now we’ll both be hunted.”
“We were always supposed to be in this together. That’s what you promised me, Jarod. You’re too smart for them to find.”
“You found me.”
“I’m smarter. We’ll find your mother, and you can help me remember how to be Gabriel.”
“I’ll do my best. No more killing.” Jarod slipped his back pack over his shoulder and let out a deep sigh.
“I’ll do my best.” But if you ever leave me again, I will kill you. “So where to first?”
Fandom: Heroes and the Pretender
Word count: 1972
Rating: R mentions of graphic violence
Prompt: PICTURE for
heroes_contestNorman Bates: Hate the smell of dampness, don't you? It's such a, I don't know, creepy smell. vol2.week40 for
scifi_musesNotes: The Pretender was another show NBC canceled at the end of season 4. It had a rich mythology. It was about special children being taken from their parents and trained to become anyone they wanted to be. The Center exploited those children. In this story, Samson Gray sold them Gabriel when he was 5.
The grainy image flickered on the screen. A fallen toy, a stuffed mouse or a bear, neither of the men watching the black and white movies cared what it was. Thick clouds of smoke curled around Dr. Raines, as he checked the monitors for Gabriel’s reactions to the stimulus. On the other side of the room, Sydney watched as Jarod absorbed the information.
Jarod was curious about the new boy. It’d been years since the Center had brought in someone new. He kept glancing over at Gabriel where the little boy was watching the screen through thick glasses. Gabriel was squirming, finding it hard to concentrate, and Jarod caught the shimmer of a tear running down his face.
“He’s not ready, Sydney,” Jarod said softly, so Raines wouldn’t hear him. “He’s only been here a few days. He hasn’t adjusted. He misses his parents.” Jarod knew that pain. He still missed his, after a dozen years he couldn’t remember what they looked like.
“I know, Jarod, but Raines won’t listen.” Sydney didn’t need to add as usual. Jarod was well aware of Dr. Raines impatience, and how little he cared about the children in his care.
“Let me talk to Gabriel. It might help. I’ll help him with the simulation.”
“I’ll ask Dr. Raines.” Sydney patted his Pretender on the shoulder and left him to his work.
Jarod leaned over the keys of the computer and started typing in his interpretation of the events that led to the loss of the toy, and where the authorities might be able to find the child who dropped it. The picture made him sad. Somewhere, someone was lost, and he knew what that felt like too.
Raines didn’t like being interfered with. He liked Sydney and Jarod less. “Gabriel is my subject, Sydney. We’ve never had one with his potential. His ability to process information and his intuition will make him a better Pretender than Jarod.”
“That may be true,” Sydney had to agree with him. “But the boy is terrified. If Jarod can get him past his fear, it would be better for the project. You know that. Let them talk. Jarod is very good with people.”
“The people we let him see. Fine.” Raines hit a button, and the film stopped looping. He ground his cigarette out and started plucking wires from Gabriel’s forehead. “Hold still, Gabriel.”
“I’m trying.” The little boy flinched when Raines got a chunk of his hair caught in the tape, and his breath hitched as he tried not to cry again. “I’m sorry.”
“I’ll do that, Dr. Raines,” Jarod said, stepping in to take Raines’ place next to Gabriel’s chair. “Hi, I’m Jarod. How old are you?”
“Hi.” Gabriel sniffled, then frowned when his glasses steamed up. “I’m Gabriel. I’m five.”
“I’m nineteen.” Jarod slipped Gabriel’s glasses off and polished them on the hem of his t-shirt. “Do you want to come with me to the library? I bet you like to read.”
“I love books.” Gabriel bit into his lip as he put his glasses back on, waiting while Jarod took off the rest of the electrodes. “He doesn’t like me.”
“That’s OK, Gabriel.” Jarod cast Raines a withering look. “He doesn’t like anyone, but I like you.” Jarod smiled when Gabriel did, helping the kid down from the high chair to lead him to the library.
“Have you been here a long time, Jarod?” Gabriel asked over the pile of books he’d collected.
“Since I was little.” Jarod remembered reading the same books when he was younger. When he was still allowed to read fantasy and make believe books for fun. “Sydney takes care of me now. Do you want to go home, Gabriel?”
“No.” He shook his head and the color drained from his face. “I can’t go back. My daddy, my daddy hurt my mommy. I saw him hurt her. There was blood on the window. I don’t know why he did that. I tried to be good, but he still gave me away. Why did he hurt my mommy, Jarod?”
“I don’t know, Gabriel.” Jarod reached over and brushed the boy’s almost black hair out of his eyes. “But if you don’t want to go home, you can make the Center your home.”
“You’ll be my friend, right?” Gabriel smiled up at Jarod as they walked to his new room. “I’m afraid of being alone.”
***
“Find him, Gabriel,” Raines wheezed from around the oxygen tubes in his nose. The years of constant smoking had caught up with him, forcing him to drag a tank with him everywhere. Gabriel always knew he was coming from the clicking of one of the wheels. “Find Jarod.”
“I will.” Gabriel stood up, slipping his arms through the black pea coat Raines had given him. “I’ll bring Jarod back, I promise. I’ll find him before Sydney can.”
“I know you will, Gabriel. You’re a hunter. You’re smarter and stronger than Jarod was. He ran away because you were too much competition.”
Gabriel looked at Raines and gave him a cold smile. He knew why Jarod left him. Jarod wanted to find his mother. Gabriel didn’t understand the need to find his family. But he did crave freedom. He hadn’t been allowed outside since Jarod ran away, and he had a lot he wanted to talk to big brother Jarod about.
“Gabriel,” Raines called after him as he reached the doors to the outside world. “Bring him back alive. We’ve invested too much into him to kill him.”
“I’ll try.” Gabriel stepped through the doors as soon as he heard the locks disengage. By the time the sun hit his face, he wasn’t Gabriel anymore. He was a hunter. He was Sylar, taking the name from the watch Raines wore; he shed the meek and mild persona like a snake shedding its skin.
***
Sylar walked through the library, running his fingertips over the spines of the books, picking up flashes of every person who had touched them before. Psychometry had been the last power Raines had fed him at the Center. He’d used it well, finding out the truth about so many, many things. If Raines had been smarter, he’d have given him some other special to feed on.
It still brought a smile to Sylar’s face, the horror in Sydney’s eyes when he caught him up to his wrists in someone’s skull. Raines had been thrilled, letting him absorb as many powers as he could while the body count rose.
“I know you’re here, Jarod. I can hear your heartbeat.” Sylar tilted his head, catching the subtle change in the Pretender’s breathing. He honed in on the sound, shifting invisible so he could come up behind the man who’d promised to look after him. “You’ll be amazed at what I’m capable of now. Tell me, big brother, did you miss me?”
“Gabriel!” Jarod jumped, knocking over a reading lamp before falling back against one of the tall shelves. “You scared me.” He was panting, but smiling when he reached out to pull the younger man into a hug. “Of course I missed you.”
Sylar returned the hug, and for a moment his eyes softened before he remembered the betrayal, the hours of torture he’d endured when Jarod was gone. “Then why didn’t you come back for me?”
“I wanted to, but I almost found my mother.”
“Your mother!” Sylar snapped pushing Jarod away from him, adding a wave of telekinesis to pin the older man to the floor. “Do you remember telling me stories of what we’d do when we got away? I do. Then you left me alone. No one was there to stop him!”
“I’m sorry, Gabriel.” Jarod tried to sit up, struggling against Sylar’s power. “How?”
“You’re sorry.” Sylar crouched along beside Jarod, tracing a fine line of telekinesis down his chest, cutting through fabric and a bit of skin. Jarod sucked in breath, wincing at the pain. “Gabriel’s not here anymore, Jarod. I’m Sylar now. Raines gave me the best toys to play with. Taught me how to live up to my true potential. He wants me to bring you back alive.”
“What did Raines do to you?” Jarod managed to fight the power enough to curl his fingers around Sylar’s wrist. “Tell me what he did.”
“He fed me. Gave me what I needed, what I craved. My father had it too. It’s why he cut my mother’s head open.” Sylar put his fingers over Jarod’s and smiled like a wolf. “You were so important to the Center, to Sydney, but I’m the most special now. I’m their Pretender. They don’t need you, and neither do I. Not anymore.”
***
“I’m very sorry, sir,” Sylar said, holding the blood soaked book behind his back while the sweeper team worked to clean up the mess he’d made. “He forced my hand. I know you wanted him alive.”
“That’s all right, Gabriel.” Raines clapped his hand on Sylar’s shoulder and started pulling him toward the door. “You did what you thought was best.”
“I did. I knew that bringing him back to the Center would be a mistake. He would have been detrimental to the program. You don’t need him, and with him dead he can’t cause anymore trouble.”
“That’s what you wanted him to do, wasn’t it?” Sydney stomped toward Raines and Sylar, his hands covered in Jarod’s blood. Sylar couldn’t keep from licking his lip at the sight of it. “You sent him to kill Jarod!”
“I sent him to bring Jarod back, something you and your team failed at, Sydney,” Raines said, giving into a coughing fit.
“I did what needed to be done to protect the Center, no more, no less.” Sylar stepped between the two men, and stared Sydney down much to his delight. “We better get you back to the Center, sir. The mildew from the books can’t be good for you.”
“He’s a murderer, Raines. You’ve turned him into a monster.”
“He didn’t turn me into anything I wasn’t meant to be, Sydney.” Sylar sneered at the man, then lowered his voice. “I explained that to Jarod. Would you like me to explain that to you too? With Jarod gone, I don’t see much need for you at the Center anymore.”
“Gabriel.” Raines tugged on his sleeve. “He’s last person you need to protect me from. But you’re right about the mildew. It’s making it hard for me to breathe. It’s time to go home.”
Sylar settled into the backseat next to Raines, watching as the rain pelted the tinted windows. When they were miles from the library he met the driver’s brown eyes in the rear view mirror and saw a small nod. Reaching inside of Raines chest, Sylar used his telekinesis to crush the man’s heart, smiling as his feet kicked at the floor as he struggled to live.
“I wish you hadn’t had to do that, Gabriel,” Jarod said, as he pulled the car over and Sylar rolled Raines body out into a mud filled ditch.
“We didn’t have any other choice. They’ll know you’re not dead by now. As soon as I was out of range, the illusion would fade. You’re the one who wouldn’t let me use someone else’s body for yours.”
“I know, but now we’ll both be hunted.”
“We were always supposed to be in this together. That’s what you promised me, Jarod. You’re too smart for them to find.”
“You found me.”
“I’m smarter. We’ll find your mother, and you can help me remember how to be Gabriel.”
“I’ll do my best. No more killing.” Jarod slipped his back pack over his shoulder and let out a deep sigh.
“I’ll do my best.” But if you ever leave me again, I will kill you. “So where to first?”
