Heroes
Dala sat on Peter's shoulder, the eagle frantically looking from side to side. Claude continues to hit her human but, every so open, he will take a swipe at her, to see if she can stop the broom. She flies away as the broom nears her face and Peter turns, stopping the broom in midair. Peter grins, watching Claude struggle to move it.
Aera, wrapped around Claude's neck, isn't watching the broom, or Peter but staring past him at Dala. The other dæmon raises her head, tilting it slightly.
'That's impossible.' The chameleon mutters, skin beginning to fade. 'You're an eagle.'
Dala, a wildcat on the floor, looking exactly the dæmon of the man who attacked Claire, shrugs. 'Never settled. I stay as an eagle to keep up appearances.'
She jumps, Shifting in midair and landing as a snake around Peter's wrist. He runs a finger along her scales, smiling sheepishly at Claude.
'Probably should've you told about that.'
Claude nods, eyes bugging out. 'Yes, you should. Does your brother know?'
Peter glances down at Dala, who is a spider on his palm. It's rare for her to be allowed to Shift and she's taking the chance while she can. If Peter didn't know better, he'd say Claude sounded sympathetic. Dala looks up and smiles, iguana eyes glinting. 'Of course. He insisted I stay in one form. Even picked it out for me.'
'The same as his?' Aera says.
'Of course.' Dala smiles, the magpie settling down for more beatings.
Reiss flies over Nathan's head, circling slowly. Nathan is watching the two men carefully, waiting for one of them to get distracted. The wolfdog is staring directly at him while the bat is flying wide rings around the eagle. Reiss shoots out at the bat, causing her to spiral back to her human. Nathan glances up at her, rolling his eyes.
The man with the horned rimmed glasses frowns as his phone begins to ring. Nathan and Reiss glance once at each other, the man tensing up, the dæmon reeling to spring. As HRG turns around, wolfdog trotting along beside him, Reiss dives, knocking the bat off her man's shoulder. The Haitian tries to grab at her but she flits out of reach, speeding after Nathan. Her man is running, heading straight for the barbed wire fence. HRG shouts once, the wolfdog growling and bolting after the other two.
Nathan crashes into the fence, Reiss trying to fly up and over it. The tug is too much as she has to fall back down, landing in his arms.
'That was unnecessary.'
Nathan sighs, holding Reiss closer to his chest. The eagle's claws rake against his bare skin. 'You might as well go ahead and shoot now. 'Cause I'll find you. And I will kill you.'
Dramatic, he knows but he has to keep them focused on something other than the way he is holding Reiss, the way he's bending his knees.
He springs up, flying away with a sonic boom.
Sembuh glares over Claire's shoulder as they storm out of the house. Roh glares back but Noah smacks her side and the wolfdog returns to watching the television. Sembuh's claws dig into Claire's shirt as they leave, heading out for the refinery. Normally Zach and Sofya would join them but neither of them could remember anymore.
As Claire sits down on top of the structure, the iguana steps away from her, tugging very lightly on their bond. They have spent ages experimenting with it and Sembuh knew he could go further than most dæmons. 'Hey, Claire? What happens to me?'
The blonde doesn't even look up, staring at the ground. 'I don't know. I'm never awake for it but when I come to, you're always there.'
The lizard nods, jumping back towards her and curling up at her side. 'But I've got to go somewhere, that mortician thought we were dead.'
Claire shivers, thinking about waking up in the morgue. Sembuh had been with her but she realises what he does. She died and when people die their dæmon fade. She pulls him into her lap, holding him close. 'It doesn't matter. I always wake up and you're always there. What happens when we sleep doesn't matter.'
He turns in her arms, looking up at her. 'What happens when we never wake up.'
Claire says nothing, holding him closer and looking down at the ground far below her. The indestructible girl sat with her dæmon in silence, sighing to herself.
Halacala watches the clock intently as her mother-dæmon drones on about the importance of the company, family reputation, etc.. Secundus, prim and proper as ever, glares at her under the table, pressing his lithe javanese cat body against Kimoko's leg and turning to face their father. Kaito's own demon quietens to allow her human to continue, her bobtail cat whiskers twitching slightly.
Hiro nudges his dæmon with his foot, staring at his father with the slightest trace of fear. The pomeranian dog looks up at him with wide eyes but he just shakes his head ever so slightly. Halacala huffs, slumping down on the floor. Secundus looks scandalised but Primi hasn't said anything so there isn't anything the younger cat can do against his dæmon-sister.
The dog rolls about of the floor, keeping an eye on the clock as the meeting-slash-dinner continues. Kaito is insisting Hiro take a job at the company, so he can learn the importance of the work they do and blah blah blah. Halacala begins playing with her man's leg, Hiro struggling to keep a straight face.
'Would you stop it.' Secundus hisses, leanings forward.
'Secundus!' Primi snarls, sitting up and glaring at the smaller cat. The smaller cat looks between the two female dæmons, face contorting, before storming off, Kimiko following with rushed apologises.
Kaito looks at Hiro, shaking his head slightly. Halacala looks away from the clock, finally, missing the second hand stop for a five seconds.
Hiro just shrugs.
Matt turns slightly, watching the woman walk past him. He glances down at Fikir, whose ears tilt slightly at her thoughts. The telepath laughs weakly, patting his dæmon on the side and moving on. They've been asked to watch the parade in case anything goes wrong but have been able to stop everything from their seat by the donut stand.
I'm gonna do it...I'll blow them to-
Matt sighs, sending a thought at the man to make him fall unconscious. His Doberman dæmon shakes her head, once again annoyed about how they are losing their ability. Matt knows Molly would be equally upset but, as long as it stops people getting hurt, he's fine with it.
'It's for the best, Fi.'
Fikir shakes her head, growling at a dæmon whose human drops some litter. 'It's wrong Matt. We're controlling people, making them do things they don't want to do!'
'Which is good when what they want to do is bad!'
Fikir snarled, biting down just next to Matt's fingers. Her human flinched, pulling his hand away and glaring. 'You're acting unprofessional.' He hissed under his breath,
'Well your acting un-human.'
'That's not even a word!'
The two continued to eye each other angrily, both tilting their head up slightly. Matt turned to watch the parade and Fikir childishly pointed her head the other way. Neither would let up before the others.
Have to find Hiro...have to help...
They glanced at each other, sighing.
Here they go again.
Rakta tries to look at the microscope before Mohinder moves away to look at some other experiment. The lizard scowls as her shoulder-top perch swings around, almost dislodging her and forcing her to dig her claws in. She's not sure her human notices, or would if she had fallen.
'Mohinder...' She whined but he shook his head, picking up a beaker and swirling the chemicals around.
'Don't say anything Rak. I need to make sure these don't overheat.'
Rakta sighs, crawling off his arm to reach the table. She has to jump at the end, barely reaching the desk before he runs off again. She settles down, watching him rush about, checking a dozen experiments without looking at her. Ever since they heard about the evolved humans, he had been trying to figure out how it worked. She had gotten bored after the first week.
'Done yet?' She drawls, looking at her non-speaking counterpart in the cage.
Mohinder rolls his eyes at her, once again looking through the microscope. 'I have to figure this out. My father died for this, we owe it to him.'
Rakta would smack him if he was near enough. She had always hated the owl dæmon that stared down at her, condescendingly. 'No we don't. We owe nothing.'
Mohinder turns violently, glaring with a venom she didn't know he possessed. 'Don't say that. Ever.'
They glare at each other, neither willing to budge before the other.
Then there's a knock at the door.
Roh watches Claire and Sembuh leave the house, trying to follow them. Bennet grabs hold of her scruff, pulling her back to the sofa as Sandra and Lyle leave too, both stopping briefly to say goodbye. They both think he has the day off today, some lie about the stock not arriving, when really the Company doesn't trust him in the same building as Gabriel Gray. He doesn't really blame them.
'They shouldn't be going out. Someone could get them.' Roh mutters, pressed against his side. The wolfdog is finding it harder to let her family go, all instincts telling her to keep them close and protect them from the world.
Bennet shakes his head, gripping hold of her fur again. 'They'll be fine. The police have promised to keep an eye on them, you know that.'
'The police? How are they supposed to...'
'You also know there are Company agents with them. Stop acting like a child.'
He frowns when she buries her face in her paws, rather than snap at him like she normally would. His dæmon was supposed to be fierce, they wouldn't survive in their job if she wasn't.
'I just hate this Noah.' She whines, making him quite happy no one else is around. 'How are we supposed to protect them?'
'I don't know.' Bennet mutters, her emotions finally affecting him and breaking through his stony mask. 'I sorry, Roh, but I just don't know.'
They hug each other close, too scared to cry aloud.
The wildcat's tail swings lazily from side to side as she watches the woman and her sparrow dæmon run across the courtyard, shouting for a taxi. Her human's eyes follow them with just as much disinterest. They don't need to act straight away, they just need to know where she is, how easy it will be to get to her.
'Metalkinesis?' Foame says, glancing once again at her man's list. 'Do we really need it, considering we already are telekinetic.'
Sylar briefly looks around, checking no one is listening. 'Its always good to get new ones. Besides, we don't know how it's different until we've looked.'
The dæmon nods her head, accepting his explanation. Their little search for new abilities became harder every day, as his name was repeated more and more on the news, and people began to take more regards to their safety. It made barely any difference; being able to move the security systems with their minds meant they were impossible to keep out entirely.
'Shall we go get ready?' Sylar says, offering his arm for her to latch onto. When they are alone, she likes to levitate herself around the room but that cannot be done in public. 'We can be out of the city by tomorrow.'
Foame smiles, thinking of the new abilities she will get that evening and at their next destination. 'Then we're going to Odessa, right?'
'Yes.' Sylar smirks, his own eyes flashing with glee. 'Then we go and get the Cheerleader.'