by Adam Sklar
CHAPTER THREE: THE CARDINAL TRAGEDY
“Do you ever wonder how many people you’ve seen for the last time?” Riley ponders towards Owen, as he looks onto a computer screen.
“All the time, I try not to. You never did tell me what happened next. What was on the note?” Owen asks.
“She was trying to tell me that not all is as it seems. That I’m not really who I think I am. And this confirms it.” Riley reflects on the final written words from Lily whilst he sits next to her cadaverous body. He slowly inspects the envelope as his hands tremble at the realisation that Lily is dead.
“Lily?” Riley’s voice quakes as he strokes her cheek with one hand, holding the envelope in another. He stares in denial and slowly looks towards the envelope, opening it up and unfolding the piece of paper within.
“Of course, if you’re reading this now, the time has come. Please forgive the clichéd tone of the first sentence. You are Riley Stenson, at least, in your mind. But your body is not. I only hope that this doesn’t mean anything horrible, but I hope that we can work together to get your mind back into your body, wherever it may be. I’d say this in person, but I’m too scared. The day before you turned up at Petrelli Manor, you told me to carry on waiting there, and that I’d see you. Somehow, you must have known. I went to go and see two friends after that for help, two friends who could see the future. They repeated the same advice to me, to wait for you. You told me to tell you one thing, the most important thing, that Hope Never Dies. Come see me, I can tell you who you are. I’ll be waiting. I will help you. I love you. Lily.” Riley reads in Lily’s voice as he begins to tear up. He shouts in frustration and cries besides Lily’s body. After sitting beside her and holding her cooling hand for a while, he remembers that there is a room in the building designed to clone people. Riley rapidly picks up her body, and sprints towards the left with the intention of taking her to the Machine. He quickly presses and smashes the buttons to call the lift, but nothing happens.
“Damn it!” Riley yells and he concentrates with extreme focus. He holds onto Lily’s body and teleports to the top of the lift where Simon had taken him to minutes ago. Riley realises that he failed to teleport Lily with him. He screams in shock and panic, realising that he successfully used an ability. From the top, Riley is able to reactivate the lift. He teleports back to Lily and carries her body, re-entering the lift and slowly working his way back to the cell they were in. He slides the lock from the outside and opens the door, entering the room.
“Riley?” Owen grunts, recovering from the blow to his head. He sees him holding a very pale Lily. As Riley walks into the room, the door closes behind him, locking it.
“She’s gone, Owen.” Riley mumbles and Owen appears shell-shocked.
“No… no… how did this happen?!” Owen yells.
“They used her to try and bring it out of me. They did, but it happened too late, she had already fallen.” Riley weeps, struggling to accept that his current memories have only recorded her for one day, but his emotions have loved her for years.
“She fell?” Owen whimpered whilst Riley tries ever so hard to concentrate on his powers to see if he can bring her back to life, but he fails to do so.
“The clone of mine; Wildcard. They made it control her to walk off a roof of an abandoned industrial building. They wanted me to bring out whatever is inside of me, for some godforsaken reason. I don’t think they realised that I would… that it would kill them all. She left me a letter…” Riley explains mournfully whilst looking towards the door.
“I have an idea, Owen. We have to move quickly.” He informs Owen as he stands up and attempts to blast the door open with telekinesis. At first, it fails. Riley concentrates and carries on trying to blast the door open. He controls his breathing and focuses on the door, breaking the hinges and carefully removing it, quietly placing it against a wall.
“You’re in control of your powers.” Owen notices.
“Maybe, I don’t know the extent of them yet. It just feels natural to me.” Riley replies, as he picks up Lily and carries her towards the end of the holding room, ignoring the pleas of all the other prisoners. Owen follows Riley, reluctant to leave the other prisoners behind.
“We need to let them go, we have to save them.” Owen explains agitatedly.
“We will. Later.” Riley answers, as he opens the large doors into the machine room.
“What is this?” Owen gasps in surprise.
“This is where they made my clone.” Riley answers whilst walking up towards the front of the machine, resting Lily’s body on the floor.
“These people, they’re wired into the machine.” Owen grunts, fighting himself not to vomit after seeing the severely malnourished and wounded figures.
“I can save her, Owen. I can bring her back.” Riley nods with a trembling voice as he fiddles with the machine’s console, pressing various buttons and trying to understand how it works.
“Riley. Riley! Look at me!” Owen shakes Riley on the shoulders, turning him around.
“It wouldn’t be her. It wouldn’t be Lily.” Owen explains mournfully whilst Riley stares indecisively between Owen and Lily. “It would be a continuation of her, but it wouldn’t be the same Lily, Riley.” He continues to explain, attempting to help Riley to understand. He stares at her lifeless body, attempting to use his potentially wide range of unknown abilities to bring her back to life. “I can’t read her, Riley. She’s too far gone. Let her go.” Owen pleads, as Riley tries one last time to bring Lily back to life. Realising that he cannot do so, he slowly falls out of denial and straight into a volatile mixture of anger and acceptance. In a fit of rage, Riley yells and raises his hand towards The Machine, destroying it and setting the two prisoners free as they fall face down to the ground. Owen covers himself out of panic as glass shards fly across the room. Water trickles and fills the cracks of the tiled floor as the machine lets out a deep buzzing noise, the mechanic equivalent of a death rattle.
“You could try to save these two, Riley? They’re damaged, but they’re still alive. You can try and heal them.” Owen insists.
“I don’t know how. I can’t save Lily. What if… What if they’re loyal to this company? What if they’re bad?” Riley groans mournfully as he stares at their lifeless bodies.
“Bad? Do you think they’d have willingly submitted themselves to this hell? No. You can do it, they’re still alive. They need you.” Owen encourages Riley whilst he turns both of them around so their faces aren’t facing the dark watery surface. Riley places his hands onto both of them, concentrating strongly on how he wants to save them. Their skin begins to become more vibrant, the cracks and tears in their skin fade away, their bodies plump and their breaths stabilise. The girl grunts, shaking in sheer panic. As she wakes up and becomes aware of her surroundings, she attacks Riley out of fear and Owen gently pulls her away.
“It’s okay! It’s okay. You’re alright.” Riley reassures the girl.
“W… what happ… happened?” She stammers.
“You were in that machine, we rescued you. I’m Owen, that’s Riley.” Owen explains, as the girl looks towards the male who was in the vat beside her.
“What year is it?” She asks.
“It’s 2011. It’s December at the moment.” Riley answers.
“A whole year… an entire year that we’ve been in there. My name is Dillon Aldaine. His name is Quinton Walgrave, we were both taken by these people. Is he okay?” Dillon introduces herself as she looks at the still unconscious male.
“He’s waking up. He’s fine.” Owen checks on him as he slowly wakes up, attempting to catch his breath.
“Dillon.” Quinton gasps as he reaches towards her for a hug.
“How did you two come to end up in that machine? Why you two?” Riley asks politely, hoping to check that Simon’s facts were correct and not a colourful fabrication.
“I’ve got the power to replicate myself, Quinton here has the power to grant or take life from a living source. The No
mad, he’s in charge. He has a power himself and reflected our abilities so we couldn’t fight back. Before all this, we didn’t know each other. I guess they thought our powers were just what they needed to make this machine work, to make clones. Since we’ve been in there a year, I guess it means they did it.” Dillon clarified.
“They did, I’ve seen one of me. Except it was stronger and taller than me. I was told most of the clones have albinism too.” Riley reveals.
“I guess the clones also share our traits too somehow. Quinton is tall and really strong. I’m a carrier of albinism. I’m surprised his muscles haven’t deteriorated in the state of limbo we were in. He’s my gentle giant.” Dillon points out as she softly cuddles Quinton.
“He did lose his muscles, you were both in a horrendous state… Riley healed you both before you woke up.” Owen explains.
“That… that makes sense, I suppose.” Dillon responds. They both notice the lifeless body behind Riley and Owen, her pale freckled face obscured by her hair.
“I can’t help but notice somebody behind you. Who is that?” Quinton asks, pointing towards Lily’s colourless body whilst Riley stares momentarily, forgetting that she had died.
“She was a friend. She didn’t make it.” Owen answers on Riley’s behalf.
“I’m sorry, pardon me. I didn’t mean to pry.” Quinton apologises sympathetically.
“Wait, you can give or take life? Can you bring her back?” Riley pleads with hope.
“I can only give and take life, I can’t heal any injuries she’s already sustained. She’s in a really bad way. If you want me to, I can take a crack at it.” Quinton informs Riley.
“Please, try. I can focus on my abilities to heal her after you bring her back? I don’t know how many abilities I have, it seems to be whatever I put my mind to.” Riley explains whilst Quinton nods and shimmies towards Lily’s body and places his hand over Lily’s forehead.
“Lily?” Quinton mutters. “What did you do?!” He shouts.
“What?” Dillon responds breathlessly.
“You knew Lily too?” Owen gasps, as Riley stares on in shock. “She was Riley’s girlfriend. The people here killed her.” He answers on Riley’s behalf.
“We worked with Lily for a long time. There was a group of us. She… oh, God.” Dillon shudders, observing her mangled state and realising that if Quinton brings her back, she would be in a heightened state of shock and agony unless Riley could heal her. “Quinton, go on. Bring her back.” She instructs. Quinton kneels down and places his hands over Lily’s body and groans, as nothing happens.
“What’s wrong, Quinton?” Dillon clamours.
“I don’t think my powers are working yet.” Quinton answers in disbelief whilst Dillon tries to use her powers and experiences no issues, successfully cloning herself multiple times, before absorbing those clones back again.
“Maybe Quinton still needs to heal. That machine changed us, it was draining our powers constantly.” Dillon explains with regret as Riley falls into despair.
“I couldn’t bring her back. We need to bury her.” Riley responds.
“I’m so sorry, I really am… Lily meant a lot to us. Where is everybody?” Dillon inquires.
“They killed her. I killed them all.” Riley choked, as Dillon and Quinton look towards Owen.
“I don’t know if it’s one of Riley’s powers, or something greater, but when he is in a state of extreme distress, he loses control of his body and his powers. Something else takes over. Lily believed that it could be fixed, that it could be sorted. I do too. If you guys are going to join us, you really have to trust me on that.” Owen explained.
“Right now, all I know is that you two saved us. We’d be dead if it weren’t for you. The least we can do is trust you. Everybody we know is dead, we thought Lily was dead too before they put us in the machine. If only we were saved earlier. The one thing they made us all do before putting us in that wretched machine is watch all the prisoners die, just because their powers had been categorised. We’re with you. Right, Dillon?” Quinton declared.
“Right. We’re with you. Whatever we can do, we’ll help you guys.” Dillon agreed.
Riley kneels down and places his hand on Lily’s body and nods towards the others, as he extends his other hand out towards all of them. Owen, Dillon and Quinton place their hands onto Riley as he teleports with them outside to where the lift is.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know where else to teleport to. I can’t just go anywhere, I have to see it first, or at least know what it looks like, perhaps.” Riley speaks apologetically, as dead bodies lay in the field in front of them near the industrial building from which Lily fell to her death.
“Where is she?” Owen points out that Lily’s body is missing.
“This happened earlier. I tried to teleport us into the cell we were kept in, but Lily’s body didn’t teleport with me.” Riley stammers in confusion. “I’ll go back up and get her.” He explains and calls the lift.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Owen offers.
“No, thank you. I’d like a moment alone.” Riley expresses his appreciation and enters the lift, slowly returning back inside of the facility on his way to recover Lily’s body.
“Is Riley dangerous?” Quinton asks gently.
“Yes, but not intentionally. He’s broken. He’s brainwashed. He needs to learn in his own time otherwise it could be fatal.” Owen answers.
“Fatal to him?” Quinton stated.
“No, fatal to us.” Owen stated. “No matter what, always trust him. Goodness will come through. He will save the world. No matter how difficult things become, always trust him. I know you’ve only just met us, but I only met him today too. My ability allows me to read a person in their entirety, their past, present and potential future.” He answered.
Riley stumbles back into the now derelict room with The Machine, and Lily’s lifeless body waddles slightly against the flowing water that ripples along the floor. He picks up her body, and returns to the lift once more to join the others outside. Owen, Dillon and Quinton stare mournfully as Riley carries Lily’s body towards them.
“Alright.” Riley struggles to maintain his composure as he gently places Lily’s body onto the ground, resting it against a tree.
“You killed Simon too?” Quinton notices as he observes Simon’s deceased body.
“I think so. I don’t have any memory of what happens when I’ve turned. I see flashes, I hear fragments, but that’s about it. He died differently from the rest of them by the looks of it.” Riley answers quietly.
“He died slowly, horrifically. He hasn’t been dead for long, I can still read him.” Owen explains.
“Good. He was a bastard. He deserved to die in the worst possible way.” Dillon responds.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that. It seems like all of his organs were crushed one by one.” Owen shudders.
“I don’t want you to be scared of me. I don’t want anybody to be scared of me. If I ever turn in front of you guys, just please run and hide.” Riley chokes up, stroking Lily on the cheek.
“Let’s just focus on saying our goodbyes, Riley. Let’s bury her.” Owen insists.
“When your powers are restored, can you bring her back?” Riley pleads.
“You have my word.” Quinton nods.
“Let’s see if I can do this.” Riley mutters to himself, as he raises his hands and parts the soil to create a grave.
“How many powers do you have?” Dillon expresses an interest.
“I have no idea. They either happen or they don’t. I just think and if I have it, or want it enough, I think it works.” Riley answers with confusion.
Quinton walks towards the dead soldiers, examining the mass killing that occurred moments ago. Out of curiosity, he tests his power on one of the dead enemies, resulting in him coming back to life and screaming in pain.
“What’s going on?!” Owen shouts in Quinton’s direction.
&nbs
p; “My powers work. I had a feeling they did. They just don’t work on her.” Quinton grunts as he kicks the injured guard in the face and knocks him out.
“All of these guys must have been dead for just as long, or longer than Lily has been by now. Can you read them, Owen?” Riley asks hastily.
“I can read them all. Just not… not Lily.” Owen answers hesitantly.
“I can’t bring her back, I can’t teleport her. Quinton can’t bring her back. You can’t read her. She’s dead and powers won’t work on her? I don’t understand. Wildcard was able to use his powers on her just fine.” Riley holds back his tears as he faces Owen.
“I don’t understand either, Riley. We’ll do our best to find out why powers aren’t affecting her.” Owen struggles to answer.
“Wildcard?” Dillon asks politely and Quinton walks back towards the group.
“It’s what they called my clone. I’d prefer to call it that rather than share my name with it.” Riley answers. “It feels wrong burying her without a coffin, she’s going to wither away.” He cries.
Quinton places his hand on Riley’s shoulder, attempting to comfort him. Strangers who share the same loss are strangers united to the same cause. Riley places some shattered concrete around the hole for some protection and places Lily’s body into the grave. He raises his hands again and slowly brings them together, filling the grave with soil.
“Why was the soldier screaming?” Owen looks at Quinton.
“Like I said earlier, I have the power to give and take life, I can’t heal any existing injuries or imperfections one’s body might have. He looked as if he had a few bullet holes in him. That’d explain the yelling.” Quinton answers.
“That makes sense.” Owen replies whilst Riley finishes burying Lily and making sure that nobody can see the burial site.
“There is one person left. I need to talk to him, but I cannot risk having you guys with me in case I turn. Please can you stay here or find somewhere safe until I come back?” Riley requests.
“There’s another abandoned building behind this one. It’s intact and out of use, at least it was the last time we used it. We can wait for you in there?” Dillon answers.
“No, Riley. I want to go with you.” Owen states.
“I don’t want to lose anybody else because of me. After Petrelli Manor, after Lily, I’m so thankful that you’re still sticking around. I won’t risk losing you either. Please do this for me.” Riley asks sharply, as he picks up a handgun from a dead soldier and turns the safety on and places it into the back of his trousers.
“Fine. What on earth do you need the gun for?” Owen agrees obstinately and asks. “How do you know how to use it?” He shrugs.
“I don’t know. Muscle memory, perhaps? I’m taking it just in case I need to scare him. That’s all, I won’t use it.” Riley answers, as Owen nods and walks away with Dillon and Quinton.
“You take care.” Dillon nods towards Riley.
“You too, all of you.” Riley acknowledges as he teleports back into the room he was held in. He exits the room that he was incarcerated in moments ago and heads towards the room with the cloning machine. Riley inspects the layout of the building and spots a corridor leading down towards two large wooden doors. He slowly walks down towards them, checking the handgun he picked up to make sure that the safety is on, before holstering it once again. Riley opens the door and sees Jorah sitting at his seat behind a big desk. His office is full of windows that look outside to the vast woodlands.
“You took your time, I’ve been waiting for you. I hope you appreciate that I didn’t intrude on your little introduction with Dillon and Quinton. That was an expensive piece of kit, young man. I was going to come and see you when you retrieved the girl’s body, but I couldn’t risk anything.” Jorah greeted Riley as he stares at the security monitors.
“Her name was Lily. I have questions. I hope you have answers.” Riley stated.
“You can hold off on the anger. Your powers don’t work around me. I… Well, let’s just say my ability blocks the abilities of others. The more you try to use them, the more it fuels my strength. I know you have questions. You want to know who you are, you want to know how you ended up outside Petrelli Manor, don’t you?” Jorah assumes.
“How did you know about that?” Riley asks in surprise.
“Oh it’s all connected, Riley. I believe Simon let it slip that we fund the Preservers, or the Purgers as they’re more commonly called. Not only do we fund that, we also have a mole in every single Petrelli Manor in the world. All the data on those computers are just ripe for the picking. Every time an intriguing person turns up, we extract them. You, however, are part of a grander plan.” Jorah chuckles.
“And why is that?” Riley mutters whilst Jorah turns around the computer monitor on his desk to face Riley.
“Why do you call yourself Riley, hmm?” Jorah asks, as the screen shows the last person scanned at the Petrelli Manor he came from.
“’Identity Unknown’? Frank told me I was called Riley Stenson.” Riley responds with confusion.
“Did this ‘Frank’ ever show you the screen when he identified you?” Jorah tilts his head and Riley refuses to answer.
“You’re setting this up. You’re trying to stray me off course, to steer me away from the very answers I’m looking for!” Riley shouts and reaches for the gun behind his back, aiming it towards Jorah.
“I know who you are, young man. My employer kept you as a big secret, but as of recent events he had to divulge your identity to me so we could ease you back into the swing of things. We only want to do what’s best for the world. Trust me, our actions may upset you, but our intentions are good. Please. I suggest you put that away. You wouldn’t even use it.” Jorah smirks, raising a tranquiliser gun with urgency and shoots it at Riley. As the dart penetrates his skin, his irises abruptly fill with orange.
“Well, well, well. Despite my powers, you can still shift. I guess the existence of multiple consciences aren’t really an ability, but a state of mind, rather… The last time I saw you, you were just a little boy. You never went onto the surface, and seldom few of us were ever allowed to see you. I’m not corrupted or dangerous. That’s what he told you so that you would never go onto the surface. Is that why you killed all of those men out there? Because you think they’re corrupted and dangerous? Or perhaps that was because you wanted revenge for Lily?” Jorah disclosed, staring towards a menacingly silent Riley whilst observing his facial expressions. “Two personalities, and neither one of them has their memories intact. Remarkable.” Jorah notices as he reaches under his desk for a deadlier weapon. He raises a handgun and aims it towards Riley. They both react instantaneously and shoot their weapons at the same time. Riley’s gun doesn’t fire, the safety is on. Jorah shoots a bullet straight into Riley’s chest. He gasps in pain as the wound doesn’t heal around Jorah.
“Stings, doesn’t it? What you’re feeling right now, that’s your lung collapsing. Soon, your chest will tighten, every breath will hurt, your heart rate will shoot up and you’ll feel like fainting.” Jorah notifies Riley, intent on keeping the plan intact. He’d rather die than to allow Riley to extract any information from him. He knows that in order for Riley to heal himself, he’d have to die. Jorah is prepared to sacrifice himself for what he believes to be the greater good. Riley immediately turns the safety off and fires the gun multiple times towards Jorah, shooting him straight through his head. The colour of Riley’s eyes turn back to a sharp green as he shouts in disbelief and drops the gun. He glares towards Jorah’s body and rolls his eyes towards the broken windows and the heavily green view as birds fly away into the endless blue sky. The gunshot wound on his chest and his back heal immediately with Jorah’s powers no longer active. With his will to live diminishing by the second, Riley picks up the gun and aims at the side of his own head. As his eyes flicker, he notices an important detail on the computer screen; a small piece of text that reads ‘Relatives identified.’ Riley drops the
gun and races to the computer in surprise.
“Riley?!” Owen shouts as he races down the corridor and into the office.
“I’m okay. I’m here. Be careful. I turned.” Riley clamours.
“What happened?” Owen slowly asks.
“I turned, or shifted, as Jorah called it. One moment I was talking to him and the next I could see his body hitting the ground. I almost considered shooting myself for a second, not that it’d do anything. Then I saw this on the computer, I was never even identified at Petrelli Manor. Frank gave me a different name, he must have known more about me and I killed him.” Riley answers, struggling to bring the puzzle together.
“We’ll work it out, Riley. We’ll work it out, I promise you.” Owen reassures him.
“I miss Lily a lot already. She knew what to do, she guided us both. She was so brave.” Riley experiences difficulty talking whilst Owen supportively places his hand on Riley’s shoulder.
“I’m so sorry. I know exactly how you feel, even though I don’t want to. You spoke to me so quickly in that room when you brought Lily inside after it happened, I didn’t quite grasp it at all. It took me some time to realise what had happened.” Owen stammers.
“It was unexpected, Owen. They used her and she’s gone. She left me a letter and that was that. She had answers, answers that she can no longer explain. She saw so much bad in the world, yet she remained so hopeful.” Riley reiterates.
“You won’t lose me, you won’t lose Dillon or Quinton. We’re here to stay. Things are difficult right now, but we must be getting closer to the truth.” Owen comforts Riley.
“Do you ever wonder how many people you’ve seen for the last time?” Riley ponders towards Owen, as he looks onto the computer screen.
“All the time, I try not to. You never did tell me what happened next. What was on the note?” Owen asks.
“She was trying to tell me that not all is as it seems. That I’m not really who I think I am. And this confirms it.” Riley answers as he points towards the computer screen.
“Relatives identified? Have you clicked it?” Owen asks anxiously.
“Not yet. How could I have believed it’d be so simple to find out my identity back at Petrelli Manor? I’m just back to where I started.” Riley groans.
“Once you click this, you’re further than you’ve ever been. Further than we’ve ever been in this quest. You have to be ready, this has to be your choice.” Owen nodded.
“Okay.” Riley shakily raises his hand over the screen and taps the box that says ‘Relatives identified’. He stares at the screen in shock, refusing to believe that his eyes are reading the right names. Suddenly, Riley finds himself outside of an American hospital room as two first-time parents cradle their new-born child.
“He’s so beautiful.” The mother whispers, her weary face staring in awe at her child.
“He really is.” The father agrees quietly. “Eleanor, I know we discussed names for boys and girls, do you know what you want to call him?” He wonders.
“I liked the name you suggested. It’s an important name too.” Eleanor smiles.
“So is that what we’ll call him?” The father caresses Eleanor’s cheek, smiling towards the baby.
“Noah. Noah Gray.” Elle’s lips quiver with happiness. “I love you, Gabriel.” She stares lovingly into Noah’s innocent eyes.
“I love you too, Elle.” Gabriel gently strokes Elle’s hair and stares at Noah.
Riley gasps quickly and stumbles backwards as he recovers from his vision, learning that his parents are Gabriel Gray and Elle Bishop. He catches himself from falling over.
“Riley?! What happened?” Owen stammers hurriedly.
“My father is Sylar?” Riley sputtered.
“According to all the books, he never had a child. He didn’t even meet Elle until 2007. Lily promised me not to tell you, but I read you back at Petrelli Manor. As impossible as it sounds, I know that it’s true. At the same time, I also know that Gabriel and Elle never had a child, he killed Elle.” Owen explained.
“If you’re saying it’s true, but Sylar killed Elle, then how can I even exist?!” Riley shouts as he grabs himself by the hair on the back of his head.
“I don’t know, Noah, but I know it’s true, you are their son.” Owen shakes his head.
“Noah? That’s what they called me in my vision. I don’t really understand.” Riley mumbled, squinting his eyes in confusion.
“I’m sorry. It’s your name. The one I saw when I read you. Noah Gray.” Owen stammered. “Riley Stenson isn’t a fake name either. You’re Noah, but Riley’s conscience exists within you. It seems that slowly over time, the two are merging together. If Noah can hear me now, then I hope he can remember himself too. Lily wanted to fix you. She wanted to find where you were in order to restore your conscience.” He continues explaining.
“This is too much to take in, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Riley shouts.
“I promised Lily I wouldn’t, we both wanted you to find out in your own time. I’m so sorry. I can tell you everything.” Owen answers emotionally, refusing to make eye contact.
“Is there anything else I need to know?” Riley asks impatiently.
“My ability allows me to see the potential future of a person. Lily asked what I saw from you, and I saw that Noah was in control and Riley was pushed deep into the back of his mind. The world was destroyed by bombs and warfare had eradicated a great deal of the human population. I still see that future, but I explained to Lily that it’s almost always inaccurate. It doesn’t take into account the choices made by other people or the choices you’ll make from now on. But, I’ve told you just in case you’d want to know. I hate my powers, I’d change it if I could.” Owen answers, his emotions are almost unhinged.
“Okay, Owen. It’s okay. We can move forwards now.” Riley reassures Owen.
“Just remember, Hope Never Dies.” Owen mutters.
“What?” Riley answers alarmingly. “Where did you hear that?” He requests.
“Lily told me to remind you that Hope Never Dies. She said it’s important.” Owen answers.
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard that. Somebody at Petrelli Manor told me the exact same thing. I think there are people who are aware of me. There must be.” Riley theorises.
“I’m sorry, Noah, Riley. I, uh. What do you want me to call you?” Owen stammers.
“Riley, Noah. I don’t know.” Riley whispers indecisively.
“I’m sorry.” Owen cowers.
“No, I didn’t want this, I didn’t want to scare you. Listen, I’m okay, this is just going to take some getting used to. If I’m in control, I’m Riley. When I’m not, I guess I’m Noah.” Riley assumes. “You were saying you would change your powers if you could. What if… What if I can somehow change them for you? I don’t know the true extent of my powers.” He suggests.
“Do you think you could do that?” Owen gasps.
“I have no idea. I can try. If I put my mind to it, it might work. What would you change it to?” Riley smiles.
“I’d change it to being able to manipulate time, to slow it down, stop it and speed it up.” Owen answers.
“Ooh, that’s slightly overpowered, don’t you think?” Riley chuckles.
“Look at you, ‘Mr. I can do anything I imagine’. Who’s overpowered now?” Owen snickers.
“Well, not anything. Who knows? These powers are probably Noah’s, not mine.” Riley responds as he places his hands on Owen’s shoulders, and thinks deeply about swapping Owen’s abilities into just one that can manipulate time instead. Riley concentrates heavily whilst he imagines stripping Owen of his current powers, and granting him an alternate power instead. A swarm of blurred images infest his mind as he lets go of Owen.
“Did you do it?” Owen questions.
“I don’t know, try it?” Riley replies.
“It’s not working, I can’t do it. But I can’t read you either. My mind is quiet at last. It’s okay,
I appreciate you trying. But having no powers is better than having what I had.” Owen answers despondently, walking in front of Riley.
“We shouldn’t keep Dillon and Quinton waiting. We need to free the prisoners first.” Riley insists as Owen taps him on the back of the shoulder.
“It worked!” Owen answers enthusiastically.
“You cleaned up too?” Riley notices the room is clear of all the piled up pieces of paper and knocked over chairs.
“Well, I was so excited when time was stopped, I guess I just wanted to relish in it. I didn’t even realise time had stopped at first, I just thought something caught you by surprise.” Owen shrugs.
“I’m glad, Owen. Take it easy though, I don’t know how this will affect you. Try not to use your abilities too much.” Riley instructs as the two run back towards the holding rooms and begin to set all the prisoners free, including the interesting twins.
“Hold on a second. What are your names?” Riley asks.
“I’m Jessica Anather, this is Jennifer Anather. We’re known as the JJ Twins where we come from. Listen, thank you so much for freeing us, but we need to make sure our families are okay. We haven’t seen them for weeks.” Jessica answers quickly.
“Of course, I don’t want to take up too much of your time. I understand you can tell the future when you touch each other?” Riley surmises.
“We don’t need to touch each other. That was a lie we told Simon because we didn’t want to be separated. We can also talk to each other by using our thoughts. Why are you asking about the future?” Jennifer responds.
“I need to see mine. Please. I need to see if it has changed at all.” Riley pleads whilst the JJ Twins stare into Riley’s eyes, not blinking at all, as if reading his very being with total concentration, all that is, and all that will be.
“I see death. I see a world of infinite sandstorms led by a pale version of yourself. I see you, wounded, wearing a breathing apparatus of some kind. You’re looking at the remnants of an exploded bomb which says ‘Preservation of Eden’ on it. I see somebody beside you in spirit form talking to you. You begin healing the world by growing grass and foliage, slowly restoring the planet to its former state. Preservation of Eden? Isn’t that this place? They must make weaponry too. The future is ever-changing, this may not happen. We’ve seen this future before. Should this chain of events begin happening, you must do what it takes to ensure the outcome isn’t as drastic as the one we see. We have to go home, we can’t risk being here any longer.” Jennifer warned, as the twins nod towards Riley and take their leave.
“But—” Riley stammers.
“Thank you.” The JJ Twins run away and Riley looks towards them as they enter the stairwell that leads them to the elevator with the rest of the liberated prisoners.
“I can’t believe they had everybody downstairs when they killed Lily. This entire building is empty. They must have seen that this could have happened. Riley, I feel angry. Something isn’t right.” Owen wonders.
“Somebody must know. Simon mentioned somebody called The Nomad. Sounds like the guy at the top. We just need to leave before anybody comes to clean this all up. Let’s go.” Riley insists, reaching his hand out towards Owen.
“You’re not going anywhere, murderer.” Hilary grunts as a small group of reinforcements arrive, targeting their guns towards Riley and Owen. Riley spots a handcuffed woman behind the armed guards, as if they are escorting her away.
“You don’t want to do this. I don’t like killing, and I’ve certainly killed enough today.” Riley warns them in an agitated tone.
“You killed my husband. Kill them.” Hillary orders the guards.
“Bad idea to work together then, wasn’t it?” Riley exclaimed, realising he wouldn’t ordinarily say something of that nature.
“I’ve got an idea, Riley.” Owen informs him as he places his hand on Riley’s shoulder and stops time.
“You’re really getting the hang of this.” Riley expresses his admiration as he walks past the guards and reaches out for the restrained woman. “Do you think you can unfreeze her without unfreezing everything?” He inquired.
“I can try, but if it doesn’t work, you’re going to need to deal with these guards, Riley.” Owen clarified.
“I don’t want to kill people. They might work for the Preservation of Eden, but these men could be fathers, husbands, and sons. Who am I to decide whether they live or die? All those men out there that Noah killed, he did so out of fear and anguish. I could tell that he didn’t enjoy killing them. He was scared the entire time, he constantly felt like it was him or them.” Riley blurted.
“Whatever. Just be prepared to teleport us out of here if things go south, yeah?” Owen pleads, his voice emits traces of anger. Riley nods in agreement. Owen places his hand on the handcuffed woman and closes his eyes with determination.
“What’s going on?!” The woman gasps in surprise.
“I’m Riley, this is Owen. We’re going to help you. Time is frozen at the moment so don’t you worry about these guards.” Riley introduces himself as he breaks her handcuffs.
“My name is Hope. They had me in a hidden room in the building away from everybody else. It was so dark.” Hope’s voice shakes as she relives her incarceration.
“Hope is a person?” Owen looks towards Riley, who appears stunned.
“What do you mean? Of course I’m a person.” Hope answers.
“There’s been an important message going around, it’s been stuck in my head. Quite a few people have told me the exact same thing; Hope Never Dies. I always thought they meant the nature of hopefulness itself and not an actual person.” Riley explained.
“We can talk about this outside, even though we’re pretty safe, I feel uncomfortable talking around these guards. The others are waiting for us. We should go, Riley. Get us out of here?” Owen looks towards Riley, requesting for him to teleport them out of the area. He places his hands onto Owen and Hope and teleports outside to where Lily was buried. Riley can hear the muffled gunfire coming from down below as time is resumed.
“They’re just around here, let’s go.” Owen guides Riley and Hope.
