2008-05-09: Ashes And Ghost

Starring:

Kory_icon.gif Novak_icon.gif

Summary: Kory enters Novak's dreams again, and uncovers the information she was looking for… And far more.

Date It Happened: May 9th, 2008

Ashes And Ghost


???

Novak is in the labs at Pinehearst Research. He has been going over observational data on an adrenaline-based drug that is nearing stability. Looking at the notes of other researchers — much to their consternation — he has identified some of their mistakes, and made corrections — also something they are unhappy with. Particularly considering that Novak is so new to the research division. Still, he has been given unprecedented trust and authority for a new employee, so he must be someone important.

"…Guanine, adenine, thymine, thymine, adenine, cytosine, adenine," he mutters to himself as he scribbles out someone else's formula on a piece of paper and writes the correct sequence of nucleobases. "They're the first seven nucleobases of the human genome, people," the bespectacled man calls out loud enough to hear without hurting his own ears. There are few others in the labs this late, and none in his immediate vicinity, but Novak has picked up the habit of talking to himself lately, due to the stress. "…GATTACA… …Movie by that name… …Easy to remember… …Should't need correcting…" he keeps muttering.

Eventually, he looks at his eye-shaped wrist watch, with its odd helix-style hands, and sees the time. Sighing, he closes up his notebook, and puts everything he was working on away. It is important to clean up after oneself. He eventually returns to his new office to log out of the system for the night, but after he has unlocked his door and sat down at his desk, he just simply… Spaces out. He stares at the screen, dark circles under his eyes, and takes off his glasses. He just needs to close his eyes for a few moments. Then he'll sign out. Just a short rest before he heads back to his apartment.

Shortly, he is asleep.

This is a new approach for Kory. The seeking out of dreamers she has not acquainted well with; and whose allegiances are clearly not affiliated with those on the list with which she has been tasked. As if that were not daunting enough on its own? Kory is flying solo, so to speak; Peter has normally been with her when she seeks to do something potentially dangerous, and he is not. He is unable to join her because of his condition. His situation. So there is no one but her to undertake this. She settles into meditative comfort in her apartment, then reaches for the mind she has touched once before, hoping that Professor Garibaldi has given in to the urge to sleep at this time as he had once before.

A younger version of Novak stands on a balcony in a huge, impressive opera house — the Teatro alla Scala. Despite this being a dream, all the details are as vivid as if the dreamer were physically there… More so, given his ability. The colors, the smell of the old building, the smooth wooden railings along the balconies, the sheer scope of the place… All of it sharper and more real than certain visitors may be use to in or out of dreams. The La Scala, as it is also known, is not completely devoid of life, however. Carpet-muffled footsteps, the rustling of cloth, breathing, and rapid heartbeat, can all be heard in Novak's ears, and because this is a dream, the sound seems to be all around him too.

Someone is coming up onto the balcony behind him. A man with a gun in his hand, aimed at Novak's back. Novak seems fully aware, and yet he asks, "You wanted to see me, Charles?" The blonde-haired man asks harshly, "Where is your partner?" Novak shrugs his shoulders. "I'm sure Miss Shaw is around here somewhere." Charles raises his gun and points it at the back of Novak's head. "You betrayed me, Novak." Novak runs his hands over the railing in front of him, and does not turn around. "Did I, now?" Charles snarls, "After all we've been through together, all the times you told me what happened to my wife wasn't my fault…" Charles looks down and then up at Novak, as he says accusatorily, obviously hurting emotionally, "You made me trust you, and then you turned on me! All because of that woman!" Novak is quiet for quite awhile, but finally responds.

"Angela Shaw has a different agenda than I do. I introduced you to her because I thought she was like us. This was an error in judgement. I never meant for you to be hurt." Novak then falls silent. Charles lowers his gun slowly, hesitantly, and then says, "Well, it's too late now. She has to be stopped. She wants to lock us all up! She wants to lock ME up, even though she knows it — it was an accident…" Novak asks, "What do you plan to do?" A second set of footsteps pads into the area quietly, but not so quietly that Novak doesn't notice. Charles says, "I… I can't just shoot her. Then the police could trace it to me. I'll have to… Do THAT. You know?" Novak says, "I wouldn't recommend it." Charles raises his gun slightly and asks, "Why not?" Novak answers, "Because she's right behind you." A second later, before Charles Nelson has a chance to react, the noise of a syringe depressing and emptying its contents is audible. Novak turns around slowly as Charles falls to his knees, holding his hand over the spot he was injected, and then slumps to the floor. Standing there is a younger Angela Petrelli — or rather, Angela Shaw. The dream suddenly becomes disjointed and fragmented, different scenes happening in a disorderly manner as Novak slips into something less memory-based.

'Angela Shaw.' Kory is invisible on the dreamscape, a chameleon fading into the scenery by matching the colors in a way no reptile could. In the waking world, she writes down the name even as she watches the tableau unfold. The face is not one with which she is familiar, but she will endeavour to remember it herself, because it could be important.

She waits, watching, for the dream to begin to gel in a new focus, before she decides whether to exert her own ability and try to urge Novak's subconscious toward Pinehearst.

Eventually, the distorted dreamscape becomes something else. It's not quite memory, rather seeming to consist of a mesh of different environments. Novak is in his apartment here in New York City, but then there is a noise of a baby crying, and he leaps out of a bed that was not there a moment ago, rushing out of his bedroom. The hall beyond is sterile and hospital-like, but has test tubes and beakers and faceless scientists working in glass-walled rooms on either side of it. There's no door to indicate where Novak just came through, but he doesn't seem to care. Instead he is busily trying to find the source of the baby crying.

Climbing through one of the laboratory wall-windows somehow, despite there being glass in the way, he calls out, "I need the formula." No one answers him, though the men and women look up at him and wave hello. He approaches one woman and says, "I need the drug." She says, "Fill out this form." Novak looks down at a form in his hand with nonsense words jumbled together. He drops it and puts his hand on the woman's shoulder. "Reed, I need the formula. Petrelli's son will be here any moment—" but then the woman collapses into a pile of sand, and her labcoat flies away in a sudden wind.

Kory frowns. This feels, from experience like a memory, but it's not something she knows well enough to get a bead on, so to speak. But the formula? That she can concentrate on. And with a bit of effort, she reconstitutes the sand doctor into a person again, and materializes a door before Novak so he can find another person to demand the formula of if she is not forthcoming with his information.

In the waking, Kory clenches her teeth with concentration. She has had too little time to become familiar with Novak's dreams, and keeping herself silent and invisible to him so as not to give herself away is a strain.

Novak kneels down to scrabble at the sand, but then it turns back into the faceless scientist woman, 'Reed'. He floats into the air on his knees, and says, "The drug. The one that enhances. I need to give it to someone." She impatiently holds up a vial of blue liquid. Novak takes it and runs towards the door that appeared, in slow motion. When he opens it, he finds himself in a dark room, not the hallway that was outside before. In the middle of the room are two beautiful blonde women, who share a resemblance. The one on the left is somewhat older. She just smirks and looks at the woman on the right. The younger woman is missing her right arm, and is seated on a globe of the Earth.

Novak holds up the vial and calls, "I have it! Don't do anything!" The older of the two women arches her eyebrow, and says, "That's not it." Novak shakes his hand holding the vial and says, "It's better. The drug by itself wouldn't be enough. The formula needs a boost. This is a new elixir of life."

Kory watches, following like a silent air current as he moves through the door. She takes the form of a third blonde woman, visually the same as the other two, but much younger still. Her sleeves are long so it's impossible to tell if she has both arms. "How can you be certain this drug will work? What boost can you give it? What will it do? Will the cure be worse than what you're trying to cure?" She asks these questions in a little girl voice; the voice of a child who wants to trust her daddy, but who is afraid of more pain, more disappointment. "How do we know?"

The older woman seems unimpressed. The younger of the two women is just looking down at the floor, with a spotlight shining on her. "Sarissa," Novak begins. Sarissa shakes her head 'no'. Novak says, "Sarissa, please. This is your last chance." But then a child appears.

He is confused for a moment, not comprehending, and then rushes to her. "Are you the baby that was crying?" he asks as he kneels down. "The drug they want to use isn't fully stable. We think it will work on humans, but Petrelli has not authorized testing yet." He then begins speaking in a bunch of techno-babble that wouldn't make sense even if Kory was familiar with the words being used, because it's really just babble. Novak asks desperately, "Understand? We need this one. We need Thanatos to fix everything and end the pain. I can't…"

He puts his hands to his face and shakes. Muffled, he says, "I can't take the pain anymore… So many people suffering… So much… I don't want to hurt like this!" He lowers his hands and says, "They want to give everyone abilities. That won't fix it. It won't make people stop hurting me. So we need Thanatos." He picks up the vial off the ground, and turns to the young woman sitting on the Earth-replica.

"Elisabetha, this is the drug." Elisabetha looks up and she has red eyes. "We only have half of the recipe for the formula. The other half is missing. I'm sorry, but Sylar will be here any second." A loud boom echoes through the room, and the floor shakes, as noises of screams come from back in the laboratory. Novak looks behind him, and sees the scientists attacking a man who seems to be overwhelmed by their numbers, only to hurl them away with a wave of his hand. His features are somewhat indistinct, but familiar enough to Kory, most likely.

Kory looks up at Novak, doing her best to give him a confused yet trusting expression. It's not much of a stretch. Techno-babble isn't her strong suit even in the waking. But she gets the gist of what he's saying. "I…I think so, daddy," she says quietly.

And then there's his outburst. She gets up to tug at his sleeve. "Why are peope hurting you, daddy? Who's Thanatos? Will he make people stop hurting you?"

She gasps and fades to invisibility again as the boom echoes through the room and Sylar arrives. It is a moment's work to determine whether or not it's really Gabriel entering the dreamscape through having taken the ability from Peter or from her. It isn't. With relief, she watches, taking the moment to scribble hasty notes in the waking from what Novak has imparted to her. He's in pain. They need Thanatos. Petrelli hasn't okayed testing yet, and they want to give everyone abilities. Just as scarred Peter warned.

As the child vanishes, Novak looks around in a panic, trying to find her. Sarissa steps in and tries to grab the vial from Novak's hand, but Novak moves his arm away. "You have hurt me for the last time! Now we end all suffering…" Elisabetha stands up slowly, and Gabriel enters the room. Novak sighs in relief. "This is my daughter," he indicates Elisabetha. Elisabetha pulls the top of her head back, exposing her brain, and then leans forwards.

Gabriel steps forward and looks at Elisabetha's brain, and then pushes her aside. He is surrounded in a flickering aura of pure black… Something. It seems to be eating up what little light is in the dark room. Novak sees Elisabetha dead on the floor, and cries out, "End it now!"

Gabriel smiles and nods, drinking the vial of liquid that has suddenly turned from blue to red. And then Sarissa screams out as he touches the Earth-globe. Everything fades into shadows except for the globe. Stars appear in the darkness surrounding it. Outerspace? A wave of blackness suddenly spreads out from somewhere on the east coast of North America, expanding, and turning the ground black and red. The Earth… The entire planet… It suddenly CRACKS.

In a city full of ruined buildings and streets full of human bones, Novak breathes out a sigh. Unless Kory continues to direct his dreams or keep him asleep, he slowly begins to wake up.

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