(no subject)

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

There's a flash and a bang and a very confused man with ridiculous hair appears, hovering a few feet above the rubble of a destroyed parking lot.

Hey, when you can cast illusions, you don't need a comb.

"...The hell?" Sylar starts to say, and before he's quite done with the sentence it's President Nathan Petrelli who's making the quizzical exclamation to empty air, settling gently to the ground.

You can never be too careful.

Comments

[broked-reality.livejournal.com]

At one point, there's a shifting stream of gold mist, and then Sam's sitting cross-legged below Sylar, peering up at him.

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

...Sylar peers right back, raising Nathan's rather paltry eyebrows.

"Interesting," he comments, and the focus of the charismatic politician's eyes is just a little too intent.

[broked-reality.livejournal.com]

"I know." Sylar gets a big grin. It's hard to say how sincere it is.

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

It's remarkably easy to hide the sharp, hot twist of rage behind a pleasant, friendly expression.

"Mind telling me how that works?"

It doesn't obey the rules he's used to, that's for sure. He'd need more study to really be certain, and somehow Sylar doubts this arrogant young man is going to hold still for further examination.

[broked-reality.livejournal.com]

Sam considers this, thoughtfully.

He doesn't appear to be inclined to stop considering anytime soon.

(Now he's just being deliberately aggravating.)

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

For the record, Sam, Sylar cares more about figuring out how to duplicate your ability than he does about murdering you out of sheer frustration.

Barely.

"I'd really appreciate it," he prompts, adding one of Nathan's Very Genuine Smiles.

[broked-reality.livejournal.com]

"How appreciative are we talking here?" Eyebrow waggle.

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

...



"Not that appreciative."



GOOD GOD.

[broked-reality.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on, you walked into that one, Sy.

"That's not an answer."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Now I'm the real Nathan Petrelli, all you other Petrellis are just illusionating.
So won't the real Nathan Petrelli please fly around, please fly around?

Oh look, he is! Shooting across the sky, leaving a contrail on one of his aerial surveys of the region.

Has he noticed the hovering man over the parking lot?

Or bigger news, has the hovering man noticed him?

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

We will presume this takes place after the hovering man has met Sam Rand, and that therefore the hovering man is in fact a walking man.





Now he's a staring man.

Duplicate powers? Rare but possible.

This bears further investigation.

Peering man, then.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

Nathan continued moving through the air, and circled around, closer to the ground. Someone new? He was still about 50 feet up. Then 20 feet.

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

Not duplicate powers, then, so much as duplicate people.

Well.

"Isn't this interesting," Sylar calls from the ground, and Nathan's own face - five years older and a great deal more amused-looking - smiles up at him.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Nathan stopped, still high in the air in shock. Staring back.


"..........What the hell?"

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

"I could ask you the same question," Sylar responds easily. "Nathan Petrelli, I presume?"

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"I am. Who the hell are you?"

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

"Nathan Petrelli, of course."

[eureka-bell.livejournal.com]

The narration is sure it has made this joke before, but:

Is it a bird?

Is it a plane?!

NO!

It's a Canadian kid on a jetpack! A far more common sight, to be sure.

It affords him a pretty good vantage point from which to spot Sylar. There is, he has to admit, a little bit of guilt when he recognises the disguise. Mainly at the slightly disappointing ratio of making out versus inventing reality-punching machines in his recent activities.

Still: "Hey!" Good-naturedly, as he redirects subtle levers to bring himself into a gentle landing dive. "It was... Nathan, eh?"

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

"Yes."

He hasn't met this kid before.

On the other hand, there's a really good explanation for why that is.

Two, but one of them is much likelier.

"But I think you may have encountered the other me. Looks like there's two around here."

[eureka-bell.livejournal.com]

"...Oh."

Stephen touches down and mostly-depowers the jetpack, leaving it just weightless enough to sit like a feather on his shoulders rather than dragging on them like any other huge amalgamation of metals by rights would.

Well, in that case. "Stephen Bell." He offers his hand.

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

"Nathan Petrelli, but you already know that."

His handshake is...

...

...oddly familiar, actually.

"That's a nice piece of equipment you have there. Where'd you find it?"

THE NARRATION IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR POTENTIAL MISINTERPRETATIONS OF SYLAR'S DIALOGUE. SERIOUSLY.

[eureka-bell.livejournal.com]

To be fair, what they're doing with their hands is not frequently shaking them, but still! The familiarity is still there in quantities enough to be mildly disconcerting. Though you'll forgive him if he doesn't immediately make the connection that may seem obvious to the reader. Mad the world may be, but 'mad' doesn't always translate to 'alternates of my boyfriend impersonating flying guys'.

So he looks briefly uncertain, but he's not about to start suddenly knowing who Sylar is.

Besides, 'Nathan' wants to talk about the jetpack!

"I built it," he replies eagerly. "It works by--" ...the narration will ask the reader here to kindly insert their own interpretation of antigravity technobabble. At some length.

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

Sylar's understanding of this explanation is greatly improved by the fact that he already knows most of it.

Pretend to greater ignorance than he possesses for the sake of playing a part? ...you're kidding, right? THIS IS SYLAR.

He nods and smiles and asks relevant questions.

Too relevant.

It's almost as though he's seen one before, but that would be impossible, wouldn't it?

No, the real moment of truth comes when he absently inquires after the manufacture of a part that's not immediately visible. He knows it's there. It has to be there, because it's an integral piece of the whole. But to most people, it wouldn't be apparent.

Then again, this isn't most people.

[eureka-bell.livejournal.com]

People understanding his often obtuse explanations are quite rare and wonderful to Steve. So much so that he even starts to answer Sylar's latest question, before stopping mid-word, suddenly aware that he's being reminded forcibly of another encounter on a beach what seems like an age ago.

Is there a face for feeling like your stomach's dropped out of the bottom of your shoes? There should be. The Steve interpretation of it involves slightly open mouths and frozen expressions.

Yes, this is the part where he's remembering conversations with the words 'alternate selves' and 'killed someone' and hoping to God that he's jumping to ridiculously unsubstantiated conclusions.

[hardlydangerous.livejournal.com]

"Yes?"

Imagine this questioning glance, only substantiated by Nathan Petrelli's rather prominent jaw and ensubtled* by his rather low-key (by comparison) eyebrows.

Sylar wants to know why Steve's suddenly gone pale and why his heartbeat has turned into the frantic drumroll of a fearful circus.

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

*No, that's not a word. Shush.