rp for snarky_blonde: habit is what keeps you going

[heroslayer]

The Company had stopped keeping him caged months ago. It had been Angela's decision, motivated by the fact that he'd demonstrated on more than one occasion now that he could behave like a rational human being, and he relished the freedom. He couldn't quite come and go as he pleased just yet, and his mother demanded that he live at Hartsdale as well as work there, but it was a start. He was making progress.

Not that he had much time to think about it. Angela kept him as busy as she could without either of them feeling like she was running him ragged. And that perhaps explained why, only hours after coming back from an assignment with Bennet, word came through to him that she needed him in her office again. He didn't need to sleep just yet, even though this would be the third assignment in as many days, and they both knew it.

Sighing, he didn't bother putting on his suit coat or tie back on again -- she could live with him deciding it was Casual Friday -- and moved through the halls quickly and quietly, knocking on the door briefly before letting himself in. He closed the door behind him, raising his eyebrows curiously, and she shot him a thin, tired smile in response. He didn't need rest, but hell if she didn't look like she couldn't sleep for days.

"I've already spoken to Noah," she started without preamble, reaching for a copy of the Times at the corner of her desk, "but barring him, you're the only the second person I'm mentioning this to." A pause, and she was handing him the newspaper. "I take it you've seen this."

Taking it from him, he skimmed it quickly, a frown pulling at the corners of his lips. From the look of things, from what the article refused to keep quiet, Pinehearst had won -- abilities were now available to anyone, assuming they had the cash. And as someone who had prided himself for so long on being special and worked so hard to be that way, this was a slap in the face. "What -- "

She stopped him with a wave of a hand. "It doesn't matter -- what matters is the fact that I'm closing down Primatech. We're done here; you're a free man."

"Why?" he demanded, bewildered, waving the paper at her. "Do you have any idea how many problems this is going to cause? How long before it's not just Accountant Bob with an ability? How long before someone like me -- like I used to be -- gets their hands on this. This is a -- a license to print money."

"I would imagine your father has already taken that into account," she answered, sourly. "And there are far more people working for Pinehearst these days than there are us. We can't handle everything, Gabriel -- I know it and Noah knows it -- and with Claire running off to go bat for the other team, so to speak ... " She sighed, shaking her head, and reached to take the paper back from him. "How long before it's just a handful of us, wasting away in this office?"

"I'd stay," he promised her. "I wouldn't leave you."

She fixed him with a disapproving look, her expression ice. "I'm telling you to. I'm still your mother; I think I still have that authority."

"This is -- "

"Get out of my office."

He stared at her for a moment, and then he was lowering his head, shadows creeping onto his face as he stared at her from under his eyebrows. Steel wired his jaw shut, and he took a moment to stare holes through her before turning, marching from her office as surely as he'd come in. She wanted him gone? Fine, he'd leave. And on the outside, he'd find someone to kill, someone familiar -- Peter, maybe, or Elle -- in an effort to stain her hands with blood by association. She'd close the Company yes, but she'd have to reopen it if only to cage him when he became a nuisance again.

That thought alone was enough to kill any possible hopes of further redemption he had, he knew, but at this point he didn't care. And that in mind, when he hit street level, he took a moment to look around before making a beeline in the direction of the apartment Bennet had mentioned Elle was keeping these days.

She was close and more convenient than Peter. She'd be a good start.

Comments

[heroslayer]

"We don't get a normal life, Elle." He raised a hand, fingers spread wide as he raised the remote from where she'd left it idly, all without touching it. "This is who we are. What we are. And even with people ending up like us -- even with my father winning -- it's not going to stop."

He paused, dropping his hand back into his lap, and the remote fell with the gesture. It bounced in protest as it hit the couch cushions and he made a face at it. "If anything, things are just going to get worse, now. People are going to get hurt. And my mother's an idiot for not being able to see that."

[snarky-blonde.livejournal.com]

Laughter came from the kitchen she couldn’t help it! Here was Gabriel Gray in her house worried about people getting hurt? She peeked back out from the kitchen, “Are you serious?” Elle laughed again, this was ridiculous and walked back in the kitchen since the noodles started to boil over.

With two bowls in her head, Elle made her way back into the room with him. She paused handing him a bowl and then moved back on the floor. “I am the last person who wants to listen to the woes of your parents.” Elle’s were dead and she already knew Angela was idiot.

She scooped up some noodles, “Since when did you start caring about other people?” she asked absentmindedly as she blew on them.

[heroslayer]

He flashed her a black look, steel lacing through his jawline. "People change based on their surroundings. The people they associate with. You remember that much, don't you? What you and Noah did to me because your daddy thought it was a good idea to make some poor, little watchmaker into a monster?"

Chandra had helped with that, too, but he left that part out; he was tearing into Elle, not Mohinder.

"But someone -- my mother -- actually bothered to give me the time of day. She was -- she helped me. It's been, what, a year? It's been good for me. I can control myself, now. And excuse me if I've gone back to being closer to who I was before you screwed me over, while you've stayed the same. Stagnant and pathetic."

[snarky-blonde.livejournal.com]

“You seem to forget the company had many founders, hence your parents. They all knew what was going on.” Elle remarked coolly, even though his words did bother her. “You were a job Gabriel, a lab rat for them to toy with, one I didn’t want to make, but had to.” she sat her noodles down and looked over at him, but got up.

“Normal was the one thing I never got to be. Its sucks, sure, but what else am I to do? It might make me pathetic, but it’s something I chose for myself. You weren’t raised within those walls, I was. You weren’t raised to do the jobs I had to do, I was and for you to be preaching to me about being stagnant, your mommy dearest did that, not me. I am the one here, trying to be normal, cause if I went to you daddy, I would be chasing you all over again. I am tired of chasing you!”

Her hands were on her hips as she glared at him. “I won’t apologize for what I done, but if I ever faced the chance of making that choice again, I won’t do it. I’d take the jacket that was offered to me the day Noah and I argued about it and leave. Believe it or not, Sylar,” she said that to be mean. “I liked Gabriel, I liked him enough to try and stop him from killing. You might not recall that since all you saw was my power, but I tried. I liked him enough to comprise myself and got in trouble for that.”

Her hand shot out, ball of energy manifested in her palm. “You know the main thing you son of a bitch, I’d wish I would have took that jacket and left. Cause my father would be alive, he would hate me, never talk to me again, but at least I wouldn’t be alone and you wouldn’t be on my fucking couch belittling me.” She closed her hand into a fist, “I am going to bed. You know where the door is, use it.”

[heroslayer]

He was on his feet in a flash, then at her side, reaching for her wrist. Brutally, he twisted her arm up and back, taking care to keep her hand pointed away from him for what little good it would do him. He took a deep breath, fighting against more violence just for the sake of violence -- he'd worked so hard over the last year, and he wouldn't let her screw that up now -- and then exhaled through his teeth, sharply.

"My mother knew," he told her in a tone he generally reserved for threats, "but she wasn't behind that. Your father was in control then. Your father did this to me -- to us, or are you going to ignore the fact that he screwed with you for the better part of your life?" His mother and Noah had told him all about that. "I did you a favor, getting rid of him. You wanted a normal life? I gave it to you, when I attacked you. When Angela fired you."

He let her go, pushing her away as she released. "And no, you didn't try. You ran. I was only telekinetic then. You could have put me out of my misery. Stopped my heart for long enough to make me stop. But you didn't. You don't get the luxury of feeling like you did the right thing because you didn't. You're no better than them. No better than me."

Turning, he marched back to the couch, and flopped down on it. "Go to bed, Elle. Run away again."

[snarky-blonde.livejournal.com]

She hissed as he grabbed her, force to listen to him, but he was wrong and as he pushed her away she stumbled back some. “Do you want me to thank you for it?” she snapped at him as she watched him go back to the couch, “MY DADDY LOVED ME!” Elle yelled at him, showing him how truly hurt she was, “He just showed it in different ways. At least he didn’t stand by and watched it happen, did he? No, he was behind it! He made it happen, he loved me enough to be done by his hands, not anyone else, and loved me enough to erase the memories.” Her logic was twisted, but in her mind, she had a point. Elle didn’t know about the testing until a few years ago. “All you did was left me alone.” she pointed out.

Seeing she was getting to him, Elle pushed wanted to push him further. “What do I have to run away from? You? You want me to stay here with you?” she asked him as she stood there, but before he could answer Elle sat on him. She figured he would push her off, but she wanted to push him a little further.

She looked at him with a gleam in her eyes as if she was on to something. Elle’s hand went to his hair, her finger tips brushed through it. “I didn’t want to hurt you that‘s why I didn‘t…” she remarked softly, but then she withdrawal her hand and sighed “I knew if I did, I would have been in more trouble and Daddy was all I had.” She knew he wouldn’t understand, she didn’t think he would ever understand, Elle situation was different then everyone else. "Everything I did was for the love of my father, you of all people should understand that."

[heroslayer]

"Whatever."

He'd ignored most of what she said, not really needing to know what she was on about because he had no intention of replying. She was an idiot, and he'd made a mistake in coming here. He'd stay as long as he needed to, to get his feet back under him after being all but thrown out by his mother, and then he'd be gone.

"Go to bed, Elle," he repeated, coolly.

[snarky-blonde.livejournal.com]

“Whatever, go to bed Elle.” she mocked back at him, “Don’t tell me what to do, you are in my home” She snapped at him, very angry and now wanting to fight so Elle shoved him. However, since he didn’t seem to interested, she needed to get away from him. “I am going out, I want you gone by the time I get back.” she informed him as she moved to her room and slammed the door.

Within a ten minutes, the petite woman made her way out in black slacks, tight green blouse, heels in her hands as she walked over to the table to get her keys. “Gone.” she stressed as she set her shoes down and slid them on “I am not kidding, Gabriel.”

[heroslayer]

He frowned at her, half-tempted to repeat her last sentence, mocking her as she had him, but he thought better of it. Instead, he made a little face, rolling his eyes, and then flashed her a smile that was a mockery of the actual expression. "If you say so."

He planned on being asleep on her couch, by the time she got back. Screw her and her damn orders.

[snarky-blonde.livejournal.com]

"I will fry your ass if you are not out of here." Elle threaten, which was empty and she knew she couldn't hurt him. Her keys were snatched up and she flipped her hair at him.

"Good night Gabriel, it was so nice to see you again." she purred at him with a roll of her eyes and left him, slamming the door behind her.