2008-01-12: Suddenly Sahara

Starring:

Gabriel_icon.gif Hiro_icon.gif

Summary: Following the shooting at the 7-11, Hiro teleports Gabriel far, far away in order to get some answers out of him.

Date It Happened: 12th January, 2008

Suddenly Sahara


Immediately following the events of 'It Starts With One'.

The Middle of the Sahara Desert, Africa

One moment, Hiro was grabbing Gabriel's shoulder from behind in a cold New York City street, the next minute they're in much the same position a world away.

Hiro did his best to pick somewhere as far away as possible. Somewhere that, even if there was a fight, Sylar had no real chance of getting back without his help. All of that, coupled with the fact that Hiro was watching the Discovery channel in his hotel room a week ago results in their sudden arrival in …

The Sahara.

Desert dunes as far as the eye can see with the sun beating down on them and making everything nigh-unbearably hot. Hiro starts to sweat, for certain, but he's got bigger fish to fry. He attempts to keep Gabriel a sword's length away, using his best action hero dialogue.

"No sudden movement!"

As soon as Gabriel felt someone's hand on his shoulder that was not Elle's, he immediately went to shrug them off. Of course, considering this person has a very special power to whisk them to a faraway place, it doesn't matter.

Gabriel is in mid-shrug as they land in the Sahara, and he's already aware of the shift in surroundings. He opens his eyes, ears not in so much pain here, considering the vast silence, and he stares around him. What the hell happened. He looks up, and spots Hiro, and his eyes narrow. The sudden realization that Elle is back in New York, having shot Meryl, /alone,/ and more than likely a little scared at this turn of events, the man shoots to his feet, advancing in Hiro. "What did you do?!" he says, stopping short when he sees the sword pointed at him, but he doesn't make him any less angry. "Take me back! You just LEFT her there!"

The Slusho is left on the ground near his feet.

"Answer my questions!"

Hiro can be equally demanding, he's angry. Very angry and now it is all bubbling to the surface. He see's in Sylar a lot of the things that he hates. Charlie's murderer. The murderer of so many other people. A true villain. But here he is not trying to pry Hiro's skull open and actually caring about a woman on the other side of the world. He's maybe a little thrown by it but he doesn't let himself falter, keeping the sword pointed directly at Gabriel.

"Who are you?"

Maybe it isn't even Sylar? It probably sounds like a stupid question but one worth asking.

Gabriel takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and concentrating for a moment before he snaps them open to look at Hiro. "My name is Gabriel, and I'm not who you think I am." That may be a little confusing, so he elaborates further. "I— used to be who you think I am. Sylar. I'm not him anymore. You can ask Peter Petrelli, he'll tell you the same thing. I…" Gabriel takes another deep breath, and lets out a sigh. If he could sit down on a chair right now, he would. There isn't one around, however, so he does the next best thing: sits on the ground. He brings his knees up slightly, resting his elbows on each knee. "I don't want to be that person anymore."

Hiro even lowers the sword a little bit. For all the anger he felt towards the man sitting in the sand before him, the bigger part of Hiro is the part that wants to trust people. The part who wants to think people will be good if given the chance and that evil is only a lack of guidance. Villains have to be stopped, of course, but what hero kills his villains without giving them a chance? No hero that this Japanese man has ever liked.

"You don't? You want to be a … hero? Not villain?"

Even his expression softens, his brow still furrowed but he doesn't seem nearly as ready to stab as he did moments ago.

"Gabriel … " he repeats to himself.

"A hero?" Gabriel responds, and the phrase elicits a bitter laugh from him. "I can't be a hero. Not after what I've done. Not with everyone after me." He looks up at Hiro, screwing up his eyes against the sun, and he nods. "But not a villain. Not anymore."

"You can be a hero," Hiro says emphatically, apparently not willing to let anybody try to subver that fundamental belief of Hiroism, "If that wasn't you and not who you want to be, then you are a different person."

He looks thoughtful for a moment before he finally decides to lower the sword, resting the tip of it in the sand so he can lean on it slightly, "It is not easy. A hero's life is never easy. But you have powers."

He stares long and with complete solemnity.

"You cannot give them back now. You owe it to those people to use them to help."

"How can I help?" Gabriel says, rising to his feet and staring at Hiro, sweat already dripping off of his brow. It's the Sahara, and it's pretty damn hot. His thoughts stray to Elle, wondering if she's okay, and he can't help but worry about her. Things have taken a dark turn with what happened at the 7-11, and they're going to have to prepare for it. But still… he can't help but stay here for the moment and listen to Hiro. "You know what I've done. What I'm.. capable of doing to another person. How can I be a hero? I can never be a hero if the world won't let me."

Considering Hiro's ability to travel through time, he isn't in a great deal of a rush to get this 'interrogation' over with. He shakes his head at Gabriel's words, drumming his fingers for a moment on the hilt of the sword. He knows very well what the man can do to people - he's seen the results more than once and those images never truly leave a person.

"It will not be easy. Even if you want to … " he searches for the right word, "Reform. It will be hard to get trust. But if you mean it - if you are not just saying it - then you can should not care how difficult it is. People may never understand but that cannot stop you from being good."

In any other situation, Hiro might be quite proud of his ability to sound like a comic book superhero.

"I don't think that's going to happen now," Gabriel says, shaking his head. "I want to be good. I don't want to kill anymore. I want to be… just.. me." He shrugs, shaking his head again, at a loss of words it seems. "They won't let me. They're going to come after me, after Elle, and regardless of what they do with her if they catch us… they're just going to lock me up and throw away the key. At best. More than likely they'll kill me. I don't know if they'll hurt Elle, but…" He steps towards Hiro, resisting the urge to grab the little man and shake him by the shoulders. "Take me back."

"I will. I will take you back in time to when I took you away."

In all honesty, Hiro can't really promise that. He'll take Sylar back to Elle, for sure, but his pinpoint control of time travel is really not all that pinpointy just yet.

"But just being good is not good enough," Hiro says, squaring his jaw and crossing his arms, "Not good enough. You owe it to them. To Charlie and everyone else. You have powers. More powers than me or any other special people I know."

He is not exactly enraged but he is certainly emphatic, picking up the sword and holding it in an un-threatening fashion by his side. He steps up to Gabriel, reaching up to grab him on the shoulder and stare him in the eye as best he can given their height differences.

"Be. A. Hero."

And then, as quickly as Serious Hiro came he is gone when he looks at the melted Slusho, "You need a new drink."

And then, he prepares to teleport them back.

Be a hero. Can Gabriel really be a hero? If anything he can try… but it's going to be hard. Not only because of who and what he is, but because of those standing in his way. Perhaps.. with the help of those around him he'll be able to. Only time will tell. First, though, he has something he needs to return to Hiro. Considering that the man can travel through time, he should still be able to make it back to Elle to make sure she's okay. "Wait," he says, just before Hiro teleports them away, "there's somewhere else we have to go first. It's at…" He recites the address, and while Hiro may not recognize it, it's a place very familair to him. His old apartment.

He only hopes that Hiro can take them there.

As for the melted Slusho? It will remain in the Sahara, and perhaps one day someone will come across it and wonder why it is there.

New York City, New York

Hiro pauses in the act of teleporting, pausing to look curiously at Gabriel before he nods his head slowly and contemplates the address. He does not know the place personally but he knows a nearby landmark and that is enough to hazard quite a good guess. He closes his eyes to concentrate again and the pair of them swiftly fade out of view, reappearing in that same instance back on the 'right' side of the world in New York City. Not all that far from the address that Gabriel gave him.

The teleportation is disorienting at first. One instant, the Sahara— the next, New York City. He takes a quick look around, recognizing the area, and motions for Hiro to follow him. "We have to hurry," he says, quickening his pace as he heads down the street. It's only a couple blocks away.

Once there, Gabriel moves up the steps quickly towards his old apartment. He knows exactly what he's after and where it is.

Despite the precious little trust Hiro has for Sylar, this Gabriel fellow seems like someone he is ready to believe in. People can have a change of heart and if they're entirely genuine about it, Hiro has no right to deny them the opportunity to redeem themselves. He could be getting led into a trap for all he knows but that thought doesn't even enter his head. He picks up the pace when he's told to hurry, however, rushing alongside Gabriel to the apartment.

As soon as the door is in sight, there's a slight twist of the fingers from Gabriel; he's getting rather good at opening locks that way. He opens the door, moving into the apartment, not even bothering to stop in the living room. He doesn't want to take a look around.

He moves into a different room, taking a look back to make sure Hiro is still with him, and he heads towards the space in the wall that was once covered by a mirror. The room where he begged forgiveness, kept the map of Evolved on the wall… the place where he was at most Sylar.

Shaking away memories from the past, Gabriel steps forward, moving around the corner. There, near the floor, is a hole in the wall, which he sticks his arm into.. and out comes the Kensei sword, still in the sheath, and he holds it up towards Hiro. "I think this belongs to you."

Hiro follows Gabriel into the room. If he has any fears of what may happen they are exceptionally well-hidden as there is no delay in his step or slowing of his pace. He steps inside and pauses to look around, taking in the unfamiliar room.

But then Gabriel is moving towards the wall and fishing something out of it. Even before he's seen more than an inch of the Kensei sword he knows exactly what it is and his eyes widen, his mouth dropping into a flabbergasted 'O' as he stares.

He reaches out to take the sword, feeling almost at once a hundred times better than he has in the months since it was stolen for him. Stolen by Sylar. But Sylar is gone now and here is someone entirely new. Perhaps somebody worth trusting.

"You can be a hero, see? You just have to let yourself be. Thank you, Gabriel."

Hiro's response gains a small smile from Gabriel, but once the moment is over, Gabriel's brow creases, concern and worry written over his face. Gabriel may have done a good thing just now, but in the near future he may have to do some bad things. Hopefully it won't sway him back to being Sylar.

Regardless of that, the Company is going to hear about the 7-11. Elle is in trouble. Gabriel is already in enough trouble, and it doesn't exactly bode well for him to have been there with Elle, but there's nothing he can do about it now. "Okay, now you have to take me back. I have to make sure Elle wasn't caught."

And hopefully Hiro will go get him a new drink first, or else this was all for nothing, really.

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