"Chapter Seven" " Nothing to Hide" "M-Core's holding steady, but Yamagato" "Yamagato is down to 215 and an 1/8." " I think that's a good bargain." " Oh, really?" "And what do you know?" " You saying I couldn't pick a stock?" " Ah, Darwinian." "Look at your sorry ass." "Barely able to make minimum wage." "Now you look at me living in a penthouse." " Central Park West." " Correction." "It's dying in a penthouse in Central Park West." "Right you are, my boy." "Right you are." "Teach you to mess with me." "Take a breath." "In the end, all that matters is love." "I love you, Peter." "I love you too, Charles." "You speak your mind." "You know who you are." "You know what you want." "That's your power." "That's your strength." "Mind if I let you in on a little secret, Charles?" "You can say anything to me, you know that." "I can fly." "Really?" "Well, if you can fly, then show me." "All right." "Watch this." "Simone." "What's wrong?" "Come in." "It's my dad." "That's so weird." "I was just having a dream about him." "He passed away about an hour ago." "I really needed to see you." "You know, I get that you're sort of socially slow, but you know you're supposed to call someone before you come over." "This you're gonna want to hear right away." " I found the tape." " What tape?" "The tape of you trying to kill yourself 20 times." "I found it." "Look, I was looking for my PSP under my bed, right?" "And there it was." "You're safe." "I thought this was supposed to be good news." "Well, I can't believe you had it this entire time!" " Why didn't you look there before?" " I did." "I tore the whole room apart." "I must've checked the bed, like, 50 times." "Good morning, Mrs. Bennet." "Good morning, dog." "How are you, Zachary?" "I'm all right." "Claire keeps punching me, though." "Your dad's plane's gonna be late." "I won't be home until 8:00 or so." "I am trusting you to hold down the fort." "Because Lyle never listens to me." "Well, he will listen to you today because he knows what a big day it is for Mr. Muggles." "Thank you." "And he doesn't want to stress us out." " Whew, does he?" " Sure." "Will you two help me out to the car?" "Your dad left on the sprinklers last night." "And I don't want to get his paws all soggy." "Here we go." "Wish Mr. Muggles good luck." "Micah?" "Micah?" "Micah!" "Help me." "Now, things have been really good between us these last couple days." "Don't you think?" "I know." "I like it." "I just..." "I feel like we've been really honest with each other." " And that's good, right?" " Yeah." "There's something that we need to talk about." "Something that I discovered." "I thought I'd been so careful." "Well, what?" "What is it?" "I don't..." "Oh, God, he knows." "What?" "What did you want to say?" "It can wait, actually." "I gotta..." "I gotta get to work." "Matt." "Niki?" "I was knocking, like, forever." "What is it?" "Micah." "Theo came back." "He..." "He took him." "I tried to protect my son." "But I couldn't." "I failed him." "Landlord said Isaac's gone." "He took his paintings and..." "Did you know he was leaving?" "No." "I can't believe he would just go like that." "I thought we were just starting to make sense of his paintings." "I wanted to tell him what happened in person." "Isaac sketched it for my dad's 70th birthday." "You know, I've been trying to get him clean forever." "The one time I need him." "Feels like everybody's leaving me." "I'm not going anywhere." "He was still in a coma." "And then, like it was any other day, he started talking." "He said he'd been flying all over the world." "But that it was a world he didn't recognize." "There was so many people filled with pain." "Nobody looking out for each other." "He worried for them." "And for me." "Until you told him everything would be okay." " What do you mean I told him?" " I know." "It doesn't make any sense." "But he said that you were flying with him." "And you told him it was all gonna be okay." "That there were people who cared." "Who would make a difference." "That you would save the world." "After that, he just put his head down and..." "He was gone." "Like he was falling asleep." "I never had that conversation with your father." "But it sounds like something you would say." "Those messages you left on my answering machine." "You said you wanted one of Isaac's paintings." "Because it would help you save the world." "It's hard to explain." "But if you had that painting..." "I could save the world." "Linderman." "What?" "The painting you want." "I sold it to a guy named Linderman." "He lives in Las Vegas." "Linderman gave you $4 million, and you're spending it on postcards." " I take it I'm supposed to choose." " Mmm." " That one." " Well, that isn't a red flag." "You two agreeing on something." "All right, gonna go to the office and have this printed up." "Don't you want to hear about how the New York Journal wants to do a cover story on you?" "I've invited Oliver Dennison to come for family brunch" " and do an interview." " You're kidding." "No, I never kid about family brunch." "That's because we never have family brunch." "Nathan, this could be great." "I don't know." "Dennison could go anywhere for a bagel." "He comes here, he's gonna want something." "Nothing wrong with taking advantage of an opportunity." "Mandy..." "Kids, why don't you go finish that train set we started this morning, all right?" "Take them upstairs." " I am not gonna use my family for political gain." " Tell that to Peter." "Nathan, you've been trying to protect me since this happened." "It's sweet in theory, but in practice, it's insulting." " I'm not made of glass." " I know." "But we don't need this." "Four points behind says we do." "I've been hiding in this house for the last six months because your polling was afraid I'd make you look weak." "But now I can help by coming forward." "Let me." "You sure about this?" "Set it up." "Chef's been cooking all morning." "Oliver will be here in an hour." " Then I better get ready." " Yeah." "Good idea." "Feeling okay, Matt?" "Hey, Tommy." "Yeah, I'm, uh..." "I'm good." "Come on, buddy." "We rode in the same car together for three years." "I can practically read your mind." "Dude, I don't know where to start." "How about we go get a beer?" " Dodger game at 7:00." " Yeah." "Yeah, I like that." "Thanks." "Hey, lady!" "Would you look at that!" "What's going on?" "What are you doing here?" "Sylar, he's killed again." "I'll brief you on the way to the morgue." "Sylar?" "Who's Sylar?" " I gotta talk to my watch commander." " Taken care of." "I'll be outside." "Put on some real person clothes." "Lyle, you better not think I'm cleaning up after you." "We just got rid of all those ants." "Such a dork." "Okay, I'm good." "Oh, my..." "Oh, my God!" " What are you doing?" " Oh, my God!" "Claire!" "Shut it off!" "Lyle, give it to me!" "Give it to me!" "Claire!" "It's amazing what you can do with special effects these days, huh?" "That was all special effects?" "Yeah, what else would it be?" "Ow!" "What the hell is wrong with you?" "Lyle, give it to me!" "Lyle!" "Lyle, get back here!" "Lyle!" "Don't let him get away!" "Lyle!" "Lyle!" "Get back here!" "Hey!" "Why would you want to kill him again?" "Because he found the tape and then he stapled me." "Help!" "Somebody help me!" "My sister's a freak!" "Found him in a parking lot in Brentwood." "Name's Robert Fresco, an oncologist at UCLA medical center." "Okay, so we figure out the M.O." "Well, the M.O. is there is no M.O." "Sylar's victims are random." "Eight deaths I have no clue how to explain." "Trust me." "This one's number nine." "Yeah, but there's nothing out of the ordinary here, right?" "Doesn't this guy look like any other burn victim?" "He's putting out 1800 curies of radiation." "Hazmat teams scoured the scene but didn't find any incendiaries." "No plutonium, no uranium..." "Nothing." "They did however find a fingerprint." "Seared to the bone like a brand." "Seared to the bone?" "We're running it through CODIS." "Now, if we get a match and we can get close to him," "I'm gonna need you to get inside his head." "Pick him out of a crowd, find him in a building..." "Right, about that, um..." "Lately it's been harder for me to filter the voices." "And hearing what they're really thinking..." "It can be ugly." "What's going on, Matt?" "Theodore Sprague." "AKA Sylar." "We got you." "So you're just gonna sit there all day and not say a word, huh?" "I want to go home." "Like I told you, it's not safe there with your mother." " Is she dead?" " No." " She's gonna be fine." " How do you know?" " Dad, we left her on the floor." " We didn't have a choice." "Heroes don't run away." " Micah..." " Bad guys do." "Heroes help people, Dad." "You know what?" " You're a bad guy." " I'm not a bad guy, all right?" "Do you remember when I told you that six months ago I started having these bad dreams?" "We all have bad dreams, Niki." "I don't think that they were just dreams." "When they started, I thought that..." "Maybe somebody was following me or something." "And I would catch my reflection." "But it wasn't my reflection." "It was another me." "She has a name." " Jessica." " Jessica?" "When someone tries to hurt me, it's like she comes out." "There is no Jessica." "It's just you." "No, I see her in the mirror." "And she tells me that she wants to come out again." "The part of me that needs Micah back wants to let her do it." "It's just complicated with your mom and me." "What's up ahead?" "Stay there." "Dad, don't!" "Get out!" "Quick!" "What has happened?" "He'll never get her out in time." "Lady, you gotta get up!" "You gotta get out of there." "You no worry." "I help." " Dad!" " Hiro!" "Why couldn't I have super strength too?" "Dad!" "Micah!" "Dad..." "I thought you were dead." "What happened?" "I don't know." "We're usually in our pajamas around the breakfast table." "You can't blame us for cleaning up for the Journal." "Not when the hollandaise is made fresh." " You seem to be adjusting well." " To the wheelchair?" "You can say it, Mr. Dennison." "I lost my right to be sensitive when I married Nathan." "I'm not saying I didn't have my darker moments during rehabilitation." "I was angry for a long time." "At your husband?" " Wasn't he driving?" " At God." "But we seem to have made our peace." "Oh, hello, Peter." " What's this?" " It's brunch." " We always have brunch." " Since when?" "Will you excuse me?" "Peter, how good to see you." "Nice of you to drop by, Peter." "Whatever this is about, now is not the time." "Charles Deveaux died this morning." "I'm sorry." " Were you there?" " No, I wasn't." "I stopped working for him so I could figure out what was going on with us." "I told you to drop all this "I'm special" crap." "I can't, all right?" "I need your help." "That man out there is Oliver Dennison." "He's working for the Journal doing a story on me." "Everything I've worked for is riding on our family being able to sit through a single meal together and smile." " So I'm not family enough for you now." " No, you're not." "Not when you're gonna ruin an election for me." "I need you to get me a painting, all right?" "Linderman bought it." "Whoa, whoa..." "We're not exactly advertising that family connection around here." "All right, great." "So just get him on the phone and ask about the painting." "Peter, I'm sorry." "But you're gonna have to go, okay?" "Hey, you know what?" "I'm just gonna fly off the terrace, yeah?" "No?" "Hey, I can fly." "Nathan, so can you." "I'll tell you what." "Why don't we just race around the Statue of Liberty real quick, huh?" "Give this tweedy guy something to write about." " You wouldn't." " Ah?" "Peter." "Peter." "Sorry," "Nathan gave me an earful about showing up in cords." "I told him I'm trying to stay grounded." "Good to have you back." "How'd you get this?" "The issue isn't even out yet." "I got it in the future." "It's a story about me." "Hiro." "Um, see..." "All the same." "Hiro..." "Even same car!" "Nissan Versa!" "I teleported." "New York City." "Yataa!" "I freeze time too." "Stop the explosion." "Saved your dad!" " Hey, didn't you visit my mom?" " Hmm?" "We should get them to a hospital." "Can you drive?" "Don't worry." "Help is coming." "I call the police." "Time to go, Micah." "Dad, you saved her." "Like a real hero." "Now we can go back and save Mom." "I wish it were that easy." "Well, it is, Dad." "We just go back." "No, Micah..." "It's not." "I'm sorry." "We can't go back." "We can never go back." "Come on." " Bye-bye!" " Take care!" "Come on, you can't stay in there forever!" "Then just give me the damn tape." "I'm gonna put this thing on YouTube." "Make, like, a million bucks." " YouTube's free, you idiot." " You're not helping." "Lyle, no one can see what's on that tape." "Are you an alien or something?" "Is he an alien too?" "Yeah, yeah." "We're gonna..." "We're gonna anal probe you!" "Zach!" "Stop scaring him." "I'm not coming out until Mom and Dad get home." "No, no, no." "You cannot tell them." "Lyle, please." " They cannot find out about this." " Why not?" "Don't you get it?" "If they found out," "Mom and Dad would think it was a mistake to ever adopt me." "We wouldn't be a family anymore." "Please." " Thank you." " Whatever." "Argh!" "Wait a minute." "Wait a second." "We're going in here without backup?" "No one even knows we're here, do they?" "What is this all about with you?" "You in my head, Parkman?" "No, I'm just..." "I'm asking a question." "It's about Sylar." "I'm not letting him get away this time." "I'm taking him down." "Something's burning." " Radiation?" " Curie levels are safe." "What the hell is this?" "What..." "Hang on, I'm getting some spikes." "Hey." "Check this out." "Their faces are all burned off." "What the hell happened in here?" "1800 curies of radiation." "Come on, let's get out of here." "Of course I'm gonna vote for Nathan." "If Nathan takes care of the people half as much as he takes care of his brother, it's gonna be an interesting city." " Pretty special family." " You have no idea." "This is all very inspiring." "I was surprised to learn the Linderman Group recently invested in your campaign." "I don't know why you'd be surprised." "Mr. Linderman was a good friend of my father's." "So you don't deny going to Las Vegas to meet with a reputed mobster." "Is that why you're here?" "I spoke with a former member of your security detail." "It seems there was a bit of a scare." "You disappeared from the casino for several hours." "And there was a blonde involved." "It's all right, Nathan." "You can tell him." " Right, um..." " Look, um..." "I'm sure that you've recently heard about my mental health issues." "I quit my job because of it." "My brother basically saved my life." "And he's convinced me to get the help that I needed." "There's a private clinic outside Vegas." "Nathan went, spoke to a doctor..." "A woman doctor." "I made him promise that no one would know." "Not even the family." "But I just don't care who knows anymore." "Okay?" "I didn't want to say anything until I cleared it with you." "That's Nathan." "You know, right in the middle of an election, he still has time to help out his messed-up little brother." "Oh, well..." "What's this?" " They counteract radiation poisoning." " Oh, thanks." "One second." "Who keeps calling you?" "Uh, nobody." "It's my wife." "Since when is your wife nobody?" "Listen, I don't think this guy's Sylar." "Yeah?" "Well, we'll see." "Look what I found in the bedroom." "Look at this." "Methotrexate." "This is chemotherapy in a pill." "This is prescribed to Karen Sprague and it's current." " She has cancer?" " Check out the doctor on the label." " Dr. Robert Fresco..." " Right." " The oncologist." " Mmh." "Karen Sprague's room?" "Take it easy, Ted." "We just want to ask you some questions." "I didn't mean to kill him." "Dr. Fresco said there was nothing he could do to save her." "I tried to convince him, you know?" "There must be something else that he could do." "Anything." "And we argued." "And I lost control." "We can talk about this downtown." " Hey, let her go." " If you let me stay with my wife." "No, you let her go or I shoot." "Do you have any idea what would happen if you did that?" "Because I don't." "Maybe I'll explode." "Maybe I'll take out this whole hospital." "Maybe I'll wipe out this city like an atomic bomb." " Just leave me alone!" " We can't do that!" "Stop, Teddy, stop!" "Karen wants you to stop." " How could you say that?" " She says you need to listen." "Ted, you never listen." "You're too damn stubborn." "But you're still her teddy bear." "Gimme a break." "You think you can hear her?" "He's telling the truth, Ted." "Listen to him." "What's she saying?" "She's saying she..." "She doesn't blame you..." "For all the pain and the worry." "She's saying it's not your fault, Ted." "She shouldn't be here." "It's not fair." "She's saying it never is." "She said that was the best date." "The picnic on the beach." "And it poured sheets and sheets of rain." "We sat in my car..." "And listened to the whole American Beauty album." "She remembers it all." "She always will." "What's she saying now?" "Hi, this is Niki Sanders from Las Vegas." "I need your help." "I know that I'm probably the last person that you want to talk to." "You should not have called me here." "I know that I have no right to." "But I need your help." "My husband took my son." "I have nowhere else to go." "I'm sorry." "I can't help you." "You have the wrong number." " Hi, Hon." " Hi." " Where are the boys?" " In the play room." " Do you still love me, Nathan?" " Of course I do." "I know what this chair means to us as a couple." "But I need you to know that I'm going to walk again." "The doctors say it's a long shot." "But I can do it if I have a reason." "We just need some hope, Nathan, that our life can be like it was." "What Peter said about you checking out a clinic for him with a doctor." "Tell me that's what happened." "If you say it is..." "I'll believe you." "Just give me some hope." "It's true." "Come on." " I'm gonna get the kids ready for bed." " Okay." "What the hell happened?" "You should just..." "You should just go." "Niki, what is going on here?" "Are you okay?" "I said that you can go now." "It's me." "I'm just trying to help you out, girl, okay?" "She doesn't need your help anymore." "Understand?" " Hey." " Hey." "So they're gonna run Sprague through decontamination." "And then put him in a special holding tank downtown." "How'd he cause all that damage with his bare hands?" "How do you hear what people are thinking?" "You did a great job in there." "Well, the guy was losing his wife." "He just wanted to talk to her, say goodbye." "You talk to your own wife yet?" "You've been dodging her call all day." "Well, I'm gonna head downtown," " cover Sprague's processing." " Right." "Hey, it's me." "I actually thought you might be home by now." "I'm calling just to... talk, um..." "Look, I had this stupid idea in my head that... that I'm losing you." "And I..." "I just..." "I can't help but have the feeling that there's something you're not telling me." "And I don't want us to live with any regret." "Or blame." "I don't know." "I guess I'm just afraid of things going unsaid." "I love you." "And..." "And I just wanted to tell you that." "You don't have to call me back." "I'll see you later tonight." "Yes, Mr. Linderman." "It seems my brother's developed some sort of emotional attachment to this painting." "I don't know what'll happen to him if he doesn't get it." "But I'd rather not find out." "Directly to the gallery." "Mr. Linderman, I appreciate it." "Good night." "You need to tell Heidi the truth." "No." "She doesn't need the truth." "She needs hope." " What, is that some kind of excuse?" " I'm not saying what I did was right." "That girl in Vegas..." "I just needed to be with someone who... didn't make me feel guilty every time I looked at her." "Did you..." "Did you talk to Linderman?" " Yeah." "Sit down." " And?" "He's not gonna let it go." "Hey, come on." "Just let it go." " It's just a painting." " It's more than that, Nathan." "This is about what's going on with us." "All right, this..." "This painting is the key." "With this thing, we can make a difference." "I'm trying to make a difference, Peter, the best way I know how." "Flying around, how is that going to help anybody?" "What is that gonna..." "What am I gonna do when I get there?" "I don't have a gun." "I don't have a badge." "I don't know karate." "I guess I could put on a costume and fly around and pull cats out of trees." "How's that gonna make a difference?" "You're not gonna know until you try." "I'm sorry about the painting." "Listen, something else happened in Vegas that I..." "What?" "These two guys, they tried to pull me out of my hotel room." "They did." "It was like a, um..." "A kidnapping attempt or something." " How'd you get away?" " I flew." " So who were they?" " The one who did all the talking had these horn-rimmed glasses." "The other guy was a spooky euro dude." "He didn't say a word." "Son of a bitch." "You really expect me to believe that?" "Yeah." " I'm not lying to you." " No?" "No." "Think about it." "What would people do if they knew what we were capable of?" "They'd lock us up and they'd throw away the key." "Now who sounds crazy?" "Be careful." "Yeah." "Someone had a good day." "It's all over the station." "FBI bust, Homeland Security collar..." " Congrats, buddy." " Thanks, man." "It really wasn't anything, though." "It must've been something." "Your FBI girlfriend just put in a request for you to retake the detective's exam as a series of interviews." " Can't blame it on the dyslexia this time." " Wait a second..." "Interviews?" "I didn't even know that was an option." "She's FBI." "She pulled some strings." "And you are gonna pass it, no problem." "Thanks, man." "Wow." "Loser." "I'm nailing you wife, and she is so fine..." "So fine..." " Hey, you still want to grab that drink?" " Son of a bitch!" "You do not choose your destiny." "It chooses you." "And those who knew you before fate took you by the hand cannot understand the depth of the changes inside." " Yeah?" " Mom." "Micah." "Hey, baby, I've been worried." " You okay?" " Yeah, I'm fine." " Are you?" " I'm good." "Are you with your dad right now?" "Uh, yeah." "I just got out for one minute." "Mom..." " Mom, is this really you?" " Tell me where you are, baby." "Just put my mom on the phone." "Your mom's not here right now." "And she's not coming back until I take care of a few things." "So, why don't you tell me where you are." "I'll come get you and bring you home." "Your mom needs you." "I'm in a little motel." "It's right off the Interstate 14." "It's called the Littlefield Motel." "You talking to your mom?" "No." "No, I'm just goofing around." "Come on." "We got some driving to do." " They cannot fathom how much you stand to lose in failure." " Micah?" "But you are the instrument of a flawless design." "And all of life may hang in the balance." "A hero learns quickly who can comprehend and who merely stands in your way."