2007-11-12: Do You Remember My Sword?

Starring:

Jane_icon.gif Hiro_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif

Summary: A Hiro returns to New York City

Date It Happened: November 12, 2007

Log Title Do You Remember My Sword?


Greenwich Village, Manhattan, NYC - on the street and later at Jane's apartment.


It's late morning in the Village as a twenty-something brunette walks along East 4th Street, her hair tied back in a ponytail. The woman's brow is furrowed, she's deep in thought. Friends infected with a hard to kill engineered virus, people who might be looking to hunt down and kill persons such as herself for being freaks, the dream she was told featured her death… The last of those is much less a concern now, with the villains having been captured, but it still registers in the mind.

Jane's got her guitar case and backpack over opposite shoulders, a common thing for her, as she moves away from the recording studio where she'd just done some session work. Her eyes scan the street ahead, looking for a good place to set up and play.

Hiro Nakamura has been AWOL for several months now. Apparently, after that little stint in Company custody, he almost completely disappeared with limited to no sightings of the jovial Japanese man in New York City.

That, of course, is about to change.

For a change, he doesn't appear out of the blue in the middle of the street. Instead, he appears out of the blue in an alleyway to the amazement of a homeless gentleman.

"<Excuse me!>" Hiro says in Japanese, taking off towards the mouth of the alleyway in the hope of catching up with Jane just as she passes in front of it.

Headed toward that alley exit, perhaps thinking the next block might have that good place to play, the woman begins to sing. The voice isn't loud, but is audible ahead of and around her, a rich soprano which can be belted out in the fashion of Ann Wilson or Pat Benatar. "You say it's your birthday, it's my birthday too, yeah. They say it's your birthday, we're gonna have a good time. I'm glad it's your birthday. Happy birthday to you."

The singing voice comes to a stop as a Japanese man steps out of that alleyway into her path. Jane's head cants to the left, studying him for a moment, her eyes not seeming to recognize the fellow. Her feet stop moving also, she not wanting to block his urgent emergence.

"<I found you! I knew I would! I thought I was a few minutes off but I wasn't!>

Hiro begins waving his hands in front of him once he stops a few feet from Jane, apparently not thinking to speak English and thus speaking in swift Japanese. Over one shoulder he has a backpack and the suit he's wearing looks a little wrinkled - as though he's been on the road for some time and not had time to have his clothes pressed.

She stands there, eying this fellow with her head still canted to the left and an expression of mild curious amusement coming over her features. From all appearances Jane doesn't seem to understand a single word he spoke, nor is there anything about her which would indicate any sort of familiarity. He wants something, she can only guess. And he looks like he's been on the road. This, therefore, must of course be a lost tourist from Tokyo. A Blue Oyster Cult tune starts to play in her head, Godzilla, and she takes a step forward.

"Do you speak English, sir?" she asks. "Are you lost, do you need directions?"

"Oh!"

Hiro comes to the sudden realization that he needs to speak English and so he does. However, his accent is rather heavy and it does make things difficult. It is as though he hasn't spoken English in quite a while.

"I do. I am sorry. I forgot. I am glad I found you."

A pause when he recognizes that expression of complete bewilderment that comes from not having the first clue who someone is. He looks a little confused, not quite used to being forgotten. He gestures to himself, brow furrowing slightly and expression puzzled.

"I am Hiro … ?"

That name. Jane was told that name, by Nathan. Now recognition arrives. It's signaled by the shift of her expression and the setting of her jaw. Her head is also no longer tilted, her eyes seek to make contact with his own. It's a slight downward angle, with her being two inches or so taller than he is. "Hiro," she repeats. "Hiro Nakamura?"

"Hai — Yes!"

Hiro quickly pushes his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose, nodding eagerly at the slight expression of recognition. He takes a moment to set out a sentence in English that makes sense in his head before actually speaking, slow and deliberate so that his accent does not make him incomprehensible.

"Do you remember me? I need your help, Jane Forrest."

"You need my help." Her face alters into something neutral, and Jane just studies this man in silence for some long moments. "I know your name," she replies. "Come with me, and let's share stories." Does she trust him? Is she angry? Hard to tell. But what's very clear is this woman, the same one whose scream shattered Hiro's glasses the night they broke into Primatech and Noah Bennet sold them out, has no memory of him. She just knows his name and description.

The woman, clad in jeans, boots with a two inch heel, and a coat with her gear across opposite shoulders, takes a few steps then looks back to make sure he's following.

Hiro follows along when he is asked to, although he seems a little hesitant given the fact that the woman does not appear to recognize him at all. Maybe he's in the wrong timeline? Could that be possible? It happens a lot in the comic books. Or maybe she's not really Jane and this is some kind of trick? He hesitates a moment but then follows all the same.

"Do you remember my sword?"

"Sword?" Her head turns to regard the man following her again, that same lack of recognition showing. "You carry a sword." Jane chuckles slightly, and her head shakes a few times. Somewhere in the back of her mind, just as he wonders if this is really her or some trick, she entertains similar possibilities. But she also reasons the Company already knows where she lives, she has their tracking marks; by going along with him and taking this person to her apartment she isn't really exposing anything. "We really do have some stories to share. I can only imagine they'll be interesting." Those boots make tapping noises on the pavement as she strides toward her residence, the High Rise Apartment building just a few blocks away. "We'll share them once we're off the street."

"Yes," Hiro says quietly, still following along although he is definately having his doubts now that she doesn't seem to remember the sword. After all, everyone remembers the sword, don't they? He pauses, contemplating his next line of conversation before beginning. Apparently, he's too eager to reveal the Mission to wait until they're safely out of earshot.

"My sword was stolen. By a bad man. I need to get it back but I will need help. It is very dangerous."

She walks along, saying nothing else as they reach and enter that building, then go into the first floor apartment which lies beyond the door marked 108. Once inside she closes and locks the door. "Are you hungry or thirsty, Mr. Nakamura?" she asks. Reserved and unremembering demeanor aside, she is a decent hostess still. One hand gestures toward the main room, she adds "Please, make yourself comfortable." Jane heads for the kitchen, to get herself something and retrieve whatever he might want. "I don't remember ever seeing you before, or your sword. I only recognize your name because someone told me we met."

"Who told you?"

Hiro furrows his brow even moreso, shaking his head at the offer of food or drink. He's still sort of hovering about near the door, unsure of whether he should stay or go.

"Nathan Petrelli," Jane shares, as she exits the kitchen with a glass of Pepsi in one hand and heads for the main room. "It's an interesting story, really. I woke up one day last March somewhere south of Atlantic City, surrounded by pill bottles. A lot of the previous month was and still is a fog. By the time I got back here, I was in hell. Cold turkey." She's quiet for a few moments as the glass is placed on a coffee table to shed her gear and coat. "Cold turkey," she explains, not sure he'll understand the meaning, " is drug withdrawal. Two days later Nathan visited me, and told me I wasn't the addict I believed I'd become. As time went on, he filled me in on more details. There was a raid to free his brother, which failed, and I was captured."

A look of recognition crosses Hiro's face, his mouth slightly agape as he understands what has happened. Or, at least, he thinks he understands.

"They took your memory? So you do not remember everything that happened. But then Flying Man told you about the memories that they stole?"

"Yes," she answers simply as she settles into a seat and trains eyes on her guest again. A slight smile comes to Jane's face. "Flying Man. That's him." Her legs cross at the ankles. "It's surreal, what feels real is the withdrawal, I went through that. The other things, I believe them because they make sense. I'd never been one to mess with drugs." Her hand lifts the glass and she takes a long drink.

"What I wonder about, Mr. Nakamura," she begins as the glass is placed back on the table, "is where you've been all this time. People joined with you on that raid, and you vanished, never once thinking to check on any of us? And now you're back, a bad man stole your sword, and you want help again?" Her expression doesn't say she won't help, and she's brought him here to hear the man out, but there's very much a This Had Better Be Good vibe.

Hiro looks downcast for a moment, eyes on the floor before his shoulders slump and he looks back up at Jane. He pauses before speaking, making sure that it is good and gets the words in order.

"I have … put a lot of people in danger. I thought people would die if I let people help with the Mission so I went away."

He reaches up to push his glasses up to the bridge of his nose yet again, "But I cannot do that. It is impossible to do alone and a Hero needs to work with other Heroes. I went away to try and find my sword by myself. And find out more about the Tornado. But I cannot do everything by myself."

He bows slightly at the waist towards Jane, "I am sorry that I was gone for so long."

"We know about the tornado," she answers a few moments later, after a slow drink from that glass. Her voice is gentler when she speaks now. "Steps are being taken, the tornado seems not so much a threat as it was before. You're right. You can't do it alone. There are other things happening, things that aren't my place to tell you. A number of us are in a situation where they shouldn't be approached. It could be dangerous for you. I recommend you wait to hear from me or Peter Petrelli. If he trusts you, Mr. Nakamura, I will also trust you."

And she's also curious. "Who stole your sword?"

Hiro seems a little taken aback as he's forbidden from contacting other heroes. All the same, he brightens up a little at the mention of Peter Petrelli.

"Peter Petrelli! Yes! He will trust me."

But then that optimistic, pleasant look fades a little as the question is asked of him. He leans forward a little, whispering as though afraid of being overheard, "Sylar."

The expression shifts again, once more becoming hard. Jane gets slowly to her feet and makes her way down the hall to where the bedrooms are. She opens the first door she comes to and steps inside, perhaps hoping he will follow. Whether or not he does she goes in and stands by the wall just inside, leaving room for him. The bed is made, the room looks kept ready for someone to use, someone who isn't a guest. "I didn't always have this apartment to myself," she quietly and somberly relates. "I had a roommate. Sylar murdered her." She pulls the iPhone off her hip and pulls up the keypad, ready to enter digits and call Peter. "I'm all in favor of getting him before he can get anymore of us."

Hiro looks genuinely forlorn at the mention of Jane's murdered roommate, closing his eyes and bowing. He's followed after her in true Hiro fashion, arms straight and at his side. When she speaks, he nods his head.

"Yes. He must be stopped. That is the most important thing."

Nodding agreement to what Hiro says about stopping Sylar being the most important thing, her finger rapidly taps the numbers into her iPhone. The call button is pressed, Jane waits for the other end to pick up.

As he often tries to be these days, Peter answers his phone fairly quick, after checking to see the identity of the caller. "Jane?"

Hiro remains silent, staring at the phone despite the fact that he cannot actually hear the other end of the conversation.

"Hey," she begins. "Peter, I want you to hear a voice, and tell me if he's who he claims to be." Of course, she realizes the two may converse for a time after she hands the phone over, but that could be an answer in itself. It's a risk, also, that in being exposed he may become dangerous, but sometimes leaps must be taken.

That device Hiro stares at is soon being extended toward his hand.

"Peter Petrelli!" Hiro speaks excitedly into the phone, a broad grin on his face as he does so, "It is Hiro Nakamura!"

"All… right?" Peter says in response, as the phone is passed over to someone else. Very likely there's no clue at all what this is about— until he hears the voice. "Hiro?" He asks, voice rather surprised, even a little dumbfounded sounding. "What— where— what happened to you? You disappeared again on me. I had to teleport back to the present on my own, and I was about a month off from when I intended to come back." Yeah, he's not going 'hand me back to Jane, whoever you are.'

Hiro's face falls a little bit as he has to explain his absence again, "I did not want to endanger anyone else. I am sorry. But I realized that I will need help … "

He looks towards Jane for a moment and then returns his attention back to the phone, "We have to stop Sylar."

"I couldn't agree with you more," Peter says, sounding as if he's a little bothered by certain things. "Especially since he's out again, and killing. But there's more problems right now than just him. There's a… virus going around. But I'm working on that. If I can do all of it at once I will, but I have to— fix this." There's actually a hint of guilt in his voice. "

"I will help," Hiro says quickly, as if there were any doubt that he would not offer to be a hero in this situation, "I will help with this virus and then we will find and stop Sylar."

All of it, of course, is said like there couldn't possibly be any other option.

"I'm not sure how much you can do, but I'd be grateful for it. We're kinda beating at walls trying to find a cure for this thing," Peter admits, pausing a moment. "But you're going to have to be careful what you do— cause I think the time travelling made this worse. I'm not sure how it did, but… the future that we went to, it was different. I talked to people who are now dying of this then, and they never mentioned getting this sick. And I'm pretty sure they would have mentioned something that important."

A slow breath, "We can probably still go after Sylar at the same time, though."

"It is very important to save as many people as possible," Hiro says determinedly down the phone line, "We should look for Sylar but you are right that this should be the first thing. Don't worry, Peter Petrelli. I will find a way to help."

"Pass the phone back to me after you set up a time and place to meet, please," Jane asks quietly. She's slid into a sitting position, while so many things course through her mind about the current situations.

"I guess you don't have a phone right now if you're using Jane's… Let's meet on the Deveaux rooftop," Peter says, after a moment giving a time that gives him some time to figure things out. "I have to talk to a few people and maybe then I'll have something to tell you that you can help with." There's another pause. "I'm glad you're back okay. I was worried about what happened to you."

"Yes! Okay!"

Hiro nods to the phone despite not being able to be /seen/ and hands it back over to Jane as asked.

"Thanks," she offers as her fingers close around the device and lift it to her ear. "Peter," she starts, "I'm back. What's your advice?" Her eyes focus on a wall while she waits for his answer.

"That sounds like Hiro to me," Peter says to Jane over the phone. "I know you don't remember him, cause he was erased from your memory— I can't say for sure that it's definitely him, but it sounds like him. You could always ask him where we agreed to stash out messages in the future— even though he only left me one of them."

The phone is briefly moved away from her mouth and covered so sound hopefully doesn't go through, and Jane phrases a question with her eyes on Hiro. "Where did you and he agree to stash messages in the future, and how many did you leave for him?" Then she uncovers the device, taking a moment to ask "Is there anyone you'd like me to point him toward, until you can meet?"

Hiro pauses a moment, as though he's not entirely sure about the question before he remembers and he makes a face of recognition.

"The bird coop on the roof. But I only left him one."

He reaches for anything flat and paper-like that he can get his hands on and begins to fold it into a crane, holding it out for Jane to see, "Like this."

"He says there was just one message, left in the bird coop on a roof, and he's making a paper bird," Jane reports while watching her visitor.

"That's Hiro, then. I haven't told anyone in the present the details of that," Peter says, sounding as if he's smiling. "I'm not sure who I can send him to, honestly. Cass and Jack both knew him… and I trust them, but I don't know how available they are at the moment. And you know why I can't send him to Elena. But give him my cellphone number, at least."

Hiro looks expectantly at Jane but says nothing further.

"You're you," she states, looking at the man who makes a paper bird. Then she speaks into the phone again. "Got it." She pauses, to think and ask "Should I fill him in on what we've learned about the tornado and virus? He can't go to anyone infected, but… he could maybe speak with them by phone."

"Of course you can fill him in on what we learned so far," Peter says, sounding as if he sees little reason not to. This is Hiro, after all. "Also have him keep an eye out for symptoms and stuff— check and see if anyone else is sick. It hasn't spread so far, but that doesn't mean it won't."

"Thanks, I'll explain about Evelyn," she replies into the phone. "Symptoms, to make sure I've got it right, are like a cold or flu, but they don't go away, they get progressively worse and in time interfere with evolved abilities?" Before sharing them, it's so good to verify what they are. "And how many patients have we got?"

"Mostly flu-like. Loss of appetite, fatigue, fever— occassionally cough. That seems to be getting worse as time goes on, too." Peter explains for the first question, then moves on to the next. "There's three now, but there was a fourth— me obviously— and were two others that we know of, both of those are dead. And we're also pretty sure that this virus is an evolved version of the one that was blocking Sylar's abilities, too. What healed him doesn't heal us, though. Regeneration does nothing against it. But I'm going to be interviewing the widow of the man who died soon and hopefully I'll have more information then."

Her brow is furrowing as she listens, thinking over what she hears. "It sounds like the thing was made stronger, to eliminate that as a cure. Which would mean it's been tinkered with in the past several months. It only affects people with abilities, right?" Peter can't see it, but Hiro can, something in the conversation made concern settle onto her features. "It's you, Emma, I'm guessing Nathan since he's your brother, would've been around you, and doesn't seem to have been in public much despite the last stages of a campaign…"

"No. It— as far as I know the guy who died of it didn't have any abilities. It isn't really a topic I can just bring up to his widow, either," Peter says, quieting a bit. "I think the original carrier who died was normal too. But— yeah. Nathan's the fourth." He'd been trying to hide that, but it does explain his absense, so..

"That's three," Jane replies into the phone, as her eyes settle on Hiro to let him know he isn't forgotten. "Who's the other one? And… damn," she breathes. "If the one whose family you're visiting isn't Evolved, was it more or less severe? How long did it take to reach the end stage?"

Hiro finishes folding the crane and sets it down on a nearby flat surface.

"I don't know yet. That's why I'm going to interview her," Peter says plainly. "I'm not sure when he first started showing symptoms, just that he was in the original quarantine with us back in April and he got sick and died in the last couple of weeks. I don't have much more than that yet."

"That's got scary implications, Peter," she states in a subdued voice after more listening, as her eyes fix on Hiro's crane. "I hope the visit is helpful. Who's the fourth Evolved patient?" A finger is held up to indicate she'll be with the bespectacled Japanese man soon, as she states "So many questions. I don't want to delay you in making that meeting."

"That's got scary implications, Peter," she states in a subdued voice after more listening, as her eyes fix on Hiro's crane. "I hope the visit is helpful." A finger is held up to indicate she'll be with the bespectacled Japanese man soon, as she states "So many questions. I don't want to delay you in making that meeting."

"I know it does. That's why I don't really have time to hunt down Sylar right now— especially if— somehow— this thing starts to spread," Peter says, sounding bothered. But he seems to know the conversation has wound down, so he says, "I don't know if it'll be today, but I hope we find out something. Something that connects all of us so the infection's mutation makes sense. I'll let you know what I find out. Take care." And with that, he hangs up. Busy day stays busy.

She puts the phone down when the other end goes dead, and runs a hand slowly through her hair, then raises her eyes to the visitor who makes cranes. "I apologize for the suspicion," Jane begins. "But being careful is necessary. Whoever is behind the virus could be trying to infiltrate us, learn what we know or disrupt things, and I recently learned someone close to me was actually another person." It seems to sadden her, that piece of information, but she goes on. "It was created, and may have been given to the people who have it on purpose. One man who had it is dead now. Peter's going to visit his widow and see if he can find a common thread. So far, no one we know is Evolved has died. But that doesn't guarantee the man who died wasn't like us."

Hiro looks legitimately saddened for the loss of anyone, Evolved or not, and bows his head as a sign of solidarity and remembrance.

She too is quiet for a time with her eyes closing as Hiro makes his observance. When they reopen and Jane speaks, the first thing offered is "283-1407. That's Peter's number." The man is looked over slowly, she recounts his tale of being in the past and registers again how he appears to have been on the road for some time. "Do you need money to get supplies, like a phone, to use, Mr. Nakamura?"

Hiro shakes his head, "No. I will be able to get the money to buy a phone." He glances about himself for a moment, "I have a … bank account." He ponders the last two words before he speaks them, trying to find the right ones in English.

She nods. "That's good. I can tell you more, if you'd like to stay, or you can go get things you need and wait for Peter wherever you arranged to meet him," Jane offers. "If he's delayed, come back and I'll pick up with filling you in more completely." While getting to her feet she's quiet again. "My number is 283-2260."

Hiro commits the two numbers to memory, looking thoughtful for a moment before nodding firmly.

"I will go. I will call you and tell you where Peter Petrelli asked to meet me so you can come as well. We will need help, I think."

And with that, he turns and begins to make his way towards the door.

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