Chapter 13

Claire whimpered and for once she was glad that she couldn't feel anything. She knew who these people were now. Or at least she knew what they did. And why they wanted HER.

She couldn't see them, she could only hear. They'd already taken her eyes and new ones hadn't regenerated yet. Her eyes were the first thing they took. After her blood, that was.

Now she could feel them cutting into her stomach. The smells of antiseptic and blood making her queasy. Or maybe it was just the sensation of cutting making her feel like she was going to throw up.

Knowing that it was her blood she smelled didn't make it any better.

She heard a suctioning noise and then felt a weird kind of tingling.. maybe an emptiness? And she knew they'd removed something else from her body. With her limited knowledge of medicine, and without her eyes, she could be sure what.

Tears leaked from her abused tear ducts, dripped into her empty sockets and mixed with her blood to run down the sides of her head and into her hair.

They'd taped her mouth shut long ago so she could no longer scream. Or later, beg. All she could make now was make pathetic little gurgling noises in her throat. She could still hear everything though.

She wasn't sure if that was a blessing, or a curse.

"Ok, I'm ready for the cooler. This one's a healthy one." She knew that was the older doctor by the responses of his voice. Sounded like he was probably a chain-smoker.

Maybe one of her lungs was meant for him.

"Do you think she'll keep breathing when we take her heart?"

"I guess we'll know soon, wont we? Though I've heard that she can regenerate from pretty much anything. I think we're going to be in business for a long, long time with this one."

Claire cringed and retreated farther back into her mind. A long time?She'd been here less than a day and she knew she was already losing her mind. How much longer could she hold out?

Claire's muffled sobs filled the room and she cursed herself. How could she have been so stupid as to go outside? Why hadn't she listed to her father?

Then she cursed Sylar. This was all his fault! Though deep down, if she were honest with herself, she knew that it wasn't.

Claire was sobbing so hard lost in thoughts of her own torture and demise that it took her while to register that the three doctors had finally stopped their inane chatter. In fact, it was suddenly quite quiet in the operating room. Had they decided to break for dinner?

Did they decide to go celebrate a job well done?

Hopefully she gave another tug at her wrist restrains, but while no one came to quiet her down, her struggling was futile.

Had they left her here then? Until her organs regenerated and they could have another go at her?

Claire squeezed her eyelids closed tight over eyeless sockets and prayed that when they removed her heart they would actually kill her.

Gabriel looked at the bodies around him without remorse. It had taken him longer than it should have to track Claire, especially given that she had been so close, and now it was early into the next morning. If he didn't hurry, it would be dawn soon, and in the daylight it would be harder to maintain cover for what he needed to do.

He'd found her at a lab just a few blocks from the University campus. How predictable.

Rather distractedly, Gabriel wondered if killing these people had been a "bad guy" thing to do. It had felt right, but morally? He couldn't help but wonder what Peter would have done.

But then he'd seen Claire strapped to that operating table and decided that he didn't one whit about morals. Those men had deserved to die. And they'd deserved to die slowly and painfully.

Gabriel experienced a moment of disquiet at the thought that there might actually be people out there who were worse than him.

Claire was strapped down and sobbing, but she was still struggling and Gabriel experienced a moment of pride. As scared as she must be, even wearing nothing but her own blood and guts she was still trying to fight.

Gabriel stood over Claire, silently assessing the macabre situation. Her eyes had been removed, although he could see that they were already beginning to regenerate. Her abdomen was cut open with what looked like the Y of a morticians cut, and upon further inspection, it appeared that one or both of her kidneys had been removed and her liver had been the next to go, having already been pulled halfway out of her body.

Her skin was already regenerating and the incision was trying to close over the liver.

Fascinating.

The surgeons had probably had to keep slicing her open in order to remove the organs, he reasoned idly.

And people thought HE was sick.

Gabriel gently put the liver back in the general location of where he thought it belonged. After all, he couldn't kill Claire himself if she was too injured to appreciate his efforts.

At his touch she whimpered and he realized that he'd never announced his presence. She'd probably thought the butchers had returned.

Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, "Claire, its Gabriel. You're going to be alright. At least until we get home, and then I fully plan to kill you myself."

He waited for a response and then frowned when he realized he'd forgotten to remove the duct tape keeping her silent. He tried to remove it as gently as possible.

"S…Sylar?" Claire whimpered, and Gabriel felt the pangs of conscience. He quickly moved to loosen her hands and legs, and then stiffened when she grabbed at him, fumbling until she managed to get her arms around him. Was she trying to attack him? Even now?

Her arms went around his neck and to his surprise she pulled herself close. He let himself relax as he realized that she was seeking comfort. Tentatively, he returned the embrace.

Claire buried her fact in Gabriel's chest. Never had she been so happy to see anyone in her life. What a sick irony that it happened to be him. She barely even registered the fact that he'd said he was going to kill her himself. Instead all she heard was that he was going to take her home and away from this dreadful place.

"You came for me?" She whispered.

There was a long silence and Claire began to wonder if he'd heard her.

Gabriel honestly didn't know how to respond. This was a Claire he wasn't used to.

"I came for my ball cap." He said, spying it cast off to the side of the room, and then winced. Why the hell had he said THAT? "You just happened to be here too."

Claire began to shake even harder and silently he cursed himself. Here she was traumatized out of her mind, and all he'd done was be a dick and now she was crying again. Claire, naked, bloody and crying in his arms. He should be thrilled.

Instead, his eyes searched the room for a blanket. Barely even registering the headless bodies which littered the floor, he quickly located the object of his search on a chair in the corner of the room. He watched as the blanket levitated and then drape itself around Claire's shoulders, which was kind of awkward since she was still draped around his neck.

Good. Now maybe she'll stop crying. He nodded in satisfaction.

But then Claire hiccupped and he realized that there was some laughing mixed in with her sobs. His whole body relaxed. Maybe she would be ok after all.

Unless she was going hysterical on him…?

"You're such an asshole."

He smiled and said, "I really like that hat."

Thankfully, Gabriel had brought a car so the trip back to their tiny apartment only took about 15 minutes.

The more he thought about it, the more bothered he was that they'd found Claire so quickly. And the fact that they'd already had a setup prepared for her made him even more upset.

It didn't matter who they were, it just proved that there were people out there looking for her and wanting to use her for her gifts.

They'd have had to have someone on the inside. Or maybe just someone watching the school? He didn't know, but it all seemed a little too thought out to be a coincidence. He wasn't looking forward to mentioning this to Noah.

Especially since Noah was sure to blame him. Gabriel smirked. I wonder if she'll tell her precious daddy about our evening together? Of course, the fact that she hadn't run straight into Noah's arms was a good indication that she probably wouldn't.

Sylar looked over at the girl huddled on the leather seat next to him under the big blue wool blanket and wondered how he'd come to this. How both of them had come to this, really.

It seemed like just yesterday he'd been driven by nothing but his hunger. A pawn to it really, yet things seemed so much simpler then.

He noted that Claire's eye's had almost fully regenerated, but they still had a cloudy haze so he doubted she could see anything yet. Maybe light and dark like severe cataracts?

She hadn't said anything since he'd carried her out of the building.

He knew that she couldn't feel any pain – he'd made sure to flip that switch in her head back off after their night together – he still wanted that "gift" as a bargaining chip… But emotionally?

Well, he didn't have the experience to talk to that. He'd usually left his victims dead.

Like he'd left the three "doctors" and their six muscle-bound henchmen. Every one of them decapitated by the flick of a wrist. Not knowing where Claire was, he hadn't wanted to take the time to fully enjoy it. To make them suffer. But now, looking at Claire, now he wished he'd gone a bit slower. Savored their pain a bit more before ending their lives. Maybe give them a taste of their own medicine.

He wondered briefly if he could use one of his talents to reanimate them, just so he could make them suffer before killing them again.

His quiet laugh shared the bitter sound of irony.

Gabriel pulled the black BMW into the garage of the apartment, eased into their allotted space, and turned off the engine, still not really sure what to say to Claire.

She'd started when she'd heard the engine stop, and turned to stare at him with sightless eyes. A slight sigh passed her lips, followed by an almost inaudible "thank you."

Gabriel smiled and pushed open the car door.

They were home.