Facility Redux - Week 1 - New York City Apocolypse

[splice_of_life]

Continuation of the Heroes cast from a_facility before the switch from LJ to DW.

Mohinder doesn't remember falling asleep. He doesn't remember the transition between tucking Molly in for the evening and trying to cater to Sylar as well so that he didn't feel left out or making sure that Elle was all right and safe. He groans as he pushes himself up from what is obviously asphalt and blinks.

Asphalt. Here. Why?

The smell of smoke, of burning sky and broken concrete fills Mohinder's lungs as he gets slowly to his feet. This is not like a normal test. F3s have never been like this before, switching from one setting to another. And this is...familiar. Sort of. He gazes upwards as paper falls from blasted out windows of office buildings.

This is New York. New York City. New York as it would have been a year ago if Peter had not been whisked into the sky by his brother.

Did that mean that he was home? And if so...what sort of home had he returned to?

Comments

[heroslayer]

"I noticed," Sylar replied, glancing back at Elle with a frown. Whether the look had something to do with the hug or her reaction to it, however, it was hard to tell. "Which is ... weird. Where the hell is everyone else?"

[splice-of-life.livejournal.com]

Mohinder shook his head, the brief hug at least enough to bolster him for a moment. She smelled better than this place and he held onto that even when she pulled back. To text Peter. Mohinder tried to hold his temper at that. Two moments and he could speak again, wetting his lips first.

"Whenever something strange happens, there are always half a dozen messages on the network-- and we were due for observations, so--"

So.

"I'm not sure there is anyone else."

[rebelle-elle.livejournal.com]

Elle didn't care if Mohinder got pissed off at her or not - he had to be nice to her, or else Sy- Ga- Sygabrilar would hurt him.

She watched her faciliberry. Seconds passed. She heard Mohinder's theory that they were alone but ignored it accordingly. Peter had been hers. He wouldn't have left her behind.

More time passed, and she still kept her eyes focused on the faciliberry. "Damn it, damn it, fuck god damn it," she whispered under her breath. Where was he?

[heroslayer]

Mohinder had a point, unfortunately, but he couldn't believe that Val would have just terminated the entire station, minus the three of them. She'd said multiple times that she'd liked playing with her guests, and while he couldn't exactly judge whether a machine was lying, even with his hearing, he doubted she was. Why would she have stopped the lobotomy experiment if she wanted them all gone? Why hadn't she just killed them off during the week with the traps or during the attack with the cannibals? Why bring them back when they did die?

No, Val wanted them around, so someone had to be somewhere. It was just a matter of figuring out where.

"Maybe they can't get to their 'berries. Maybe she turned them all into rabbits or something for a week." And maybe she'd left them unscathed to watch them panic or maybe, worse yet, they were on their way to becoming rabbits, too, mutating slowly on some fundamental level. Who knew? But he could no more believe that they were gone than he could that Elle had just spoken, and so he ignored the latter, though not intentionally.

[splice-of-life.livejournal.com]

"Maybe they're all back at the last place. Or maybe we've been lost in the buffers." That's what people in science fiction shows said, right? People got lost in transit. It seemed a coincidence that they, of all people, would be the only ones found here.

But then, why not Molly? Why not Peter?

Why not any of the others from their world?

Mohinder rubbed his forehead and took a seat, too tired, mentally and physically, to keep standing.

[rebelle-elle.livejournal.com]

Elle stared at her communicator, her frown deepening as she realized that Peter might not be here at all. She nearly threw it against the ground, but without the faciliberry, without her crayons and paper, she would have to rely on signing to communicate.

She dropped to the ground and hugged her knees, texting the others.

[heroslayer]

"I don't know," he said, settling down next to them. Sitting in ash and rubble wasn't his idea of fun, but whatever. "We need to find somewhere to stay, though. And food."

[splice-of-life.livejournal.com]

Mohinder certainly could get behind the idea of food right about now. He frowned at the ground, knowing he'd be expected to get up again. Finding a place to stay really wasn't that impossible. There was a lot of structural damage around the blast center, but buildings on the edge seemed to be more or less all right, even if all of their windows were blown out.

"We don't know how structurally sound these buildings are," he commented. "We should try to stay near doorways."

[rebelle-elle.livejournal.com]

Elle's stomach rumbled faintly, and she hugged herself until it quieted.



Really, if she would ever reread what she wrote, she'd feel bad for people who were forced to read it.

[heroslayer]

Pushing back to his feet, Sylar nodded. "I agree."

He could likely tell how sound the buildings were, if they gave him a few minutes, but it was probably better safe than sorry, anyway. It was probably best that they didn't stay here for too long, either, assuming this was the site of some nuclear disaster, just so they didn't all end up with radiation poisoning, but one night wouldn't kill them, they needed the rest, and he could heal whatever damage was done.

"The sooner we get inside, the better." They could worry about food after they'd found shelter.

[splice-of-life.livejournal.com]

Mohinder certainly wasn't going to argue and he picked himself up to follow the other two. He was silent. They smelled fantastic, he wanted to be near them both, but that always ended up with Elle being angry and Sylar being upset.

Mohinder certainly knew how to pick them.

Luckily, shelter wasn't that hard to find. Sure, not every place was ideal, but one of the single story corner terraces provided shelter and no fear of tumbling buildings. It would do.

[rebelle-elle.livejournal.com]

Elle glanced at Mohinder and frowned, not sure she liked how quiet he was being.

Quiet herself, she wandered from room to room, wondering if their bedroom or something like it was somewhere here. And how were they going to manage sleeping arrangements? Elle wasn't fond of sleeping alone anymore - she wanted warm bodies for pillows, damn it. Only it looked like Mohinder was still the Crazy Train Conductor.

She saw movement on the other side of the window. Peter? She ran forward, stopping as she got near enough to see that the man was too tall to be Peter. Actually, he looked like something out of a horror movie, dressed in a thick hazmat suit and walking with some friends in military formation.

Elle backed away cautiously and then ran back through the rooms to find Mohinder and Sylar.



Sylar could deal with them quickly enough. Elle could stop the guns from firing, but she wasn't sure if the hazmat suits were made of rubber or not.

[heroslayer]

"Hazmat," Sylar guessed, slinking over to the window to look outside, his ears straining. He stuck to the shadows, just in case one of them decided to turn around and look in his direction, and texted back, rather than risking being caught by talking. They might be looking for survivors.

Like Elle, he was fairly certain that he could take care of the guard -- they'd never see him coming -- but did he want to? Or did they want to, hopefully, be rescued and taken somewhere with less risk of falling down around them.

He glanced back at Mohinder, frowning.

[splice-of-life.livejournal.com]

Mohinder just shook his head, clutching the phone to his chest. Never once were their worlds occupied during an F3 unless they were evil and trying to kill them. He was already breathing rapidly at the mere thought and pressing back into the corner.

It wasn't that he was afraid. It was because he wasn't afraid. He was hungry. And those people down there-- Well he could use them. He already felt a stickiness forming between his fingers at the mere thought.

Mohinder stayed silent, but he stood, resolved.

Time to nest a bit, really. The other two would understand.

Even if he didn't think either of them had noticed the way he could crawl down walls before. The men in their hazmat suits were going to be in for a surprise too when Mohinder webbed them up. Lucky them.

[rebelle-elle.livejournal.com]

Elle stared between them, her frown deepening and a line forming between her eyebrows.



And why did Mohinder look so freaked? Not terrified... Freaked.

Oh. Oh.

[heroslayer]

Sylar rolled his eyes at Elle -- though, honestly, he hoped that wasn't the case, considering how handsy Mohinder had been with, well, everyone since he'd gotten back from his trip home -- and glanced back out at the hazmat team.

I'll take care of them, he texted, already headed for the way they'd come in. Stay here.

[splice-of-life.livejournal.com]

He was already half out the window before Sylar could finish his text. Gun fire? Absolutely. Who wouldn't fire at a creepy man suddenly crawling down the wall! There. He was a hero. They'd love him again for it, surely.

[rebelle-elle.livejournal.com]

Oh, great. Mohinder just... took care of them all on his own. And demonstrated how easily he could kill her if she upset him again. Which she would. She was Elle.

She gaped at Mohinder, looking vaguely horrified, and then turned to Sylar.

And to make it even better, Elle was now starting to wonder if she was the useless one in the bunch. Before, it had been Mohinder. She had liked that, damn it.