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In Metropolis....

Eden McCain has a table to herself at a coffee shop - notebook papers are spread over it with titles like 'Main Character' and 'Subplot 1'. The great post-apocalyptic novel isn't going to get written any other way! She felt like dressing like a cliche artist - and is wearing a navy blue beret.

Tom Therin is whistling cheerfully to himself as he walks down the street, idly looking for pockets to pick.

On the Cooper farm....

Bridgette Dubois has a stuffed pony, a lion, and a unicorn in a semi-circle on the lawn to the Cooper house. "Whoever wants me to sing Lion King at the talent show, say aye!"

The stuffed animals are silent, but Bridgette - after checking on Marie, who claps her hands in agreement an area to her left - nods as if they actually spoke. "All right - how about Sound of Music?"

Oliver Wycliffe, dressed in white and looking thoughtful, is riding his stallion Beauregard down the road to the farm.

Dana, an extremely tired-looking young woman in ratty jeans and a T-shirt, is waiting nervously in front of the hospital, gnawing on her lip.

[ooc: Tag one, tag all, but please let me know which one you're tagging!]

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Sylar has recently found his way to Metropolis, that wonderful city where Chandra and Darla aren't.

Guess who he wasn't expecting to see in a cafe?

Considerable eyebrows knot slightly in question as he moves towards her table. In a tone of surprise: "Eden?"

Muscles under the pale skin tense in a flinch. Her gaze snaps up - all the way up - to his own.

A calculating expression flashes across her face, barely restraining the sparkle of panic in her wide eyes - not a Gabe. Not Gray. But would Sylar really come up to her and say her name?

Her small face grows tight with determination. She's got a program for dealing with these guys.

"Why don't you," her voice deepens with gutteral whispers of power, "tell me your name, what year it is for you, what abilities you have, and then go order a coffee?"

Why, Eden thinks despairingly, does this universe have a hard-on for these guys?

At her reaction to his voice, he wonders if he miscalculated -- if Chandra shared his suspicions with Eden before he came to Sylar's apartment.

And when she speaks, something subtle enough for him to hitherto miss becomes wonderfully, terribly obvious -- and he can't do anything about it, because his muscles are already leaping to obedience like a well-trained dog. "Sylar." Not his given name, but the name he considers to be his. "2006. Telekinesis, cryokinesis, hyleokinesis." Biokinesis should be on that list, by rights. Intuitive aptitude doesn't get a mention, because he still doesn't consider it a power.

His expression, in one of those rare unguarded moments, shifts from surprise -- to a strain to stop talking -- to apprehension and blossoming anger. But by then, he's off to carry out the final part of Eden's order. There are only so many scripts you can follow to order coffee, but he still has his tone of voice, and the lady behind the counter probably wonders what she did to wrong this guy.

An actual Sylar. This is somewhat surprising, and Eden's expression begins to reflect this before she controls her face again. It becomes closed and grim.

Eden follows behind him, close enough to snap, "You're not going to use any of your powers," and far enough to get out of the way if he lunges at her.

Eden would like to keep things a little less public, but circumstances require otherwise.

There are no words. There are actually none. Every single person he thought he knew is turning out to be superpowered, or against him, or more usually both.

The coffee is abandoned as soon as it is asked for -- she never said he actually had to buy the stuff -- and Eden gets a faceful of angry Sylar, though his attempt to grab her arm is less than successful. "Take that back!"

(There's an edge to his voice, mostly hidden. But who wouldn't be afraid of a woman who can override free will?)

Mmm, no.

"Freeze!" Eden says, scrambling backward, arms held out in a defensive position in case he manages to get any further before she spits out her command.

And that leaves Sylar clamped utterly still, as if turned into a statue mid-lunge, only his eyes tracking and his breath coming in frenzied little puffs.

Yes, he's frightened. What the hell is happening? (He should have known better than to approach someone he knew, after Darla and Suresh.) Has she been able to do this all this time? (Keeping it a secret-- Chandra would have shared it, had he known.) How the hell did she know exactly what to ask? (He has alternates here. Maybe people know.) And what is she going to do to him now?

Eden has some ideas - most of which involve commanding him to do acts you don't really come back from. No regen for this one. He's a Sylar. He took Chandra (well, he didn't, but at this point he won't be able to convince her otherwise). If she lets him live, he'll come after her.

She glances around the coffee shop. Some people have left. Others are looking at her. One of the clerks is going for their phone. Eden swallows.

Eden's moved before after misdeeds. She has Anna now, but she'll understand the necessity...except if she doesn't. But there are things in the world that are greater than what Eden feels. It took her a long time to realize that.

Her breath gusts out of a dry mouth. The power builds with her will, with a word she could utter so easily.

She opens her mouth to speak. One syllable. That's all it takes.

There's a little ring as the door opens, jarring the 'you have customers' bell.

Anna sees Eden, and gets halfway through a hello-girlfriend smile-and-wave before abruptly halting and cocking her head: what?

What's Eden doing staring at the guy who stood up to Hades with that look on her face?

Anna might notice that said guy is standing unnaturally still, one arm suspended half-up as if he's expecting birds to start nesting on it. Though all things considered, he's lucky his body didn't take the figure-of-speech 'freeze' any more literally than it did.

His eyes are fixed with a horrified fascination on Eden's open mouth, as he waits -- thanks to her he's incapable of doing anything else, helpless -- for her next command.

Did they plan to meet here? Eden can't remember. They probably did. Eden was feeling really excited about her creative work this week.

Eden stares at Anna, eyes like those of a trapped animal, making a garbled noise that combines the beginnings of the words 'it's him' and 'stop me'.

Is that the sound of someone whispering into their cellphone? Eden's gaze scans the crowd, too quickly to actually see anything, she can't take her gaze off Sylar for too long--

Eden licks at her lips. "We're leaving," she tells Anna, her voice wavering under the strain. "And you--" to Sylar, because her voice wouldn't contain that much disgust for Anna, "you're-- you're going to follow us. Calmly."

"--okay."

What.

"--?"

She leaves her question unspoken and follows.

One order overrides another and he can move again, albeit stiffly and only in the direction the two women choose.

His steps are distressingly puppetlike (though he's calm enough suddenly to know with a deadly certainty that god he hates her for this), and his jaw is still immovable. Well, she never said 'unfreeze'.

Eden walks to one side of him, thoughts whirling, gaze darting to him then to Anna.

"This is him," Eden says to Anna, the words tumbling out of her. "It's Sylar. It's actually him this time. He's killed people because they had something he wanted - some ability that his own ability lets him use.

"We need to get him someplace private." After a pause, she corrects herself. "I need to. You should go."

"Like fuck I'm leaving you alone with him," Anna argues stubbornly, "if he's like that."

So they both know. Any and all plans to bluff his way out of this are, just like that, shredded and scattered to the winds.

And still he's forced to walk behind them like an unjointed marionette, eyes cold flints of anger.

Eden shakes her head, walking as quickly as possible away from the crowds, glancing back every so often to make sure Sylar's following. She was on a main street, so it'll take some walking to get to anyplace private. "I can control him, and you--"

She'd been about to say should keep safe, only to realize how useless that statement is.

"You don't need to be here." Rather, Eden doesn't want Anna to see her kill.

"Yeah. Me. Take a care for my skin." She snorts. "Never have before; why should I start now? No. I'm staying."

Sylar?

Still here.

Still not happy.

Just for the record.

"Damn it, Anna!" Eden snaps.

She takes a deep breath in. "You can help me pick a spot," she grumbles.

"Pick a spot to...?"

Sylar would be shaking his head if he could, because the way this conversation is going is giving him serious misgivings.

Sylar would be breaking both their necks if he could, but all he can do is strain imperceptably against the order that has his muscles in a headlock.

Eden is silent, her jaw tightening, remembering the fading light as it left her stepmother's eyes.

Tersely, "Get rid of him." A quick glance behind her. "Keep walking, you."

She takes a slow breath.

"Eden..."

It trails off.

Shrug. She's dead; what the fuck does she care? No argument, says the face.

The expression Sylar's face is frozen into is already half a snarl, which makes it all the easier to glare.

But-- no matter how good he is at choosing which of his emotions people can and cannot see-- he can't hide the fear in his eyes as they burn black hatred at Eden. Because he has no doubt that, with that kind of power, she is perfectly capable of ending his life in a hundred unpleasant ways.