company man

@mrbennets

Micah needed someone he could trust. Noah wasn’t someone who screamed trustworthy in any traditional sense, but he was good at getting his jobs done. Rubbing his hand over his hair, he sent a text message to Noah.

“I need you for a mission.” The message said. Micah was having trouble getting a fool-proof plan in place, something to take down Shelby, to get ahead of this mandatory registration. It was too late in the game to set aside assistance for mass resistance.

This wasn’t Noah’s first rodeo, and Micah knew he would have some guidance to offer on the subject.

Noah wrapped his hands around his travel mug and breathed in the scent of coffee. His eyes slid in and out of focus as he read through another deluge of emails from concerned parents. He scowled and gulped at his drink and burned his tongue---again. He’d had the mug for long enough, he should be able to remember it kept liquids ludicrously hot, but years of flimsy paper cups and lidless ceramics had ingrained in him a habit of drinking without taking the time to check the coffee’s temperature. Amateur mistake.

His phone beeped and he slammed his drink down on his desk, ruffling a stack of papers. I need you for a mission, said the text. Noah frowned. He wasn’t sure what Micah was planning, but he suspected it was best dealt with away from the school.

Jenny eyed him wearily, but after a minute she nodded her head in agreement. “Okay, fine. There’s a good coffee cart near Central Park. Let me just grab my keys.” She turned back inside the shop and grab her things before appearing back at the entrance while pulling a jacket on.

“Alright, I’m ready.” Without waiting for a response, Jenny walked out the door and locked the door after Noah followed her out. “So, what are your ideas? Since you’ve been at this a lot longer, I figure you have a couple at least. I have some of my own, if you’d like to hear them.”

Alistair reached out and shook Noah’s hand, giving a nod as he did. “Well, first, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve done my research.” He gave a small smirk and took a seat across from Noah’s desk without waiting for an invitation. “I”m here because the President wants me to assess the situation with the school and Fortis.”

He paused a moment, letting his words sink in. “Obviously you have a personal connection with all of this, but putting that aside, what do you think?” Alistair wanted a more professional opinion from someone who’d been in a similar situation that he was in. “If you have some time to talk, I mean.”

Noah sat and steeped his fingers and regarded Beasley. The man seemed sincere enough, but seemed was hardly a trustworthy barometer. Noah frowned. “I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interest for me to put aside my ‘personal connection,’ as you put it. That’s why I’m here, Mr Beasley. To help these people as best I can.

“As for what I think? I think your government dancing around, trying to ascribe labels to a group of humans in some effort to mark them as second class citizens is a way to score cheap political points with an uninformed, xenophobic voter base. I think it’s despicable. And I think you know that.

After his meeting with Peter, Alistair decided it would also be a good idea to visit Noah. From what he’d read about the man, he was definitely someone to keep an eye on. From what he understood, Noah could go either way depending on his daughter and since his daughter was an Evo…well it was pretty self-explanatory. 

It took him a good few minutes to find Noah’s office, using the main he’d gotten from the main building. When Alistair finally found it, he gave the door a hard knock, stuffing the map in his pocket for later. Clearly, he was going to need it, the campus was a lot larger than he’d imagined it to be.

The second Noah answered Alistair opened the door and stepped inside. “Mr. Bennet. My name’s Alistair Beasley.”

Noah looked up and clicked off his monitor, more out of habit than a worry that some parent’s complaint might be seen. So the government man had finally found his way down to the campus. Noah supposed it had only been a matter of time. Still, he would have preferred a little more specific forewarning. Then again, the surprise was probably the point.

Jenny quirked an eyebrow at him and nodded curtly. “Sort of. We didn’t actually get a chance to meet face to face, so he sent me your file with some instructions instead.” A pause. “I haven't quite decided if I can trust you yet. But, if Peter can, then I guess I will too until you prove otherwise.” 

She crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame before speaking again. “I assume you have more details about our mission. If you’d like to come in, I’d love to hear about them. Or we can leave. Maybe walk around Central Park and get some fresh air. I’ve been stuck in here all morning.”

Noah smirked and raised an eyebrow pointedly. He was used to not being trusted and it had long since stopped bothering him---except in a few specific instances. Like his family.

He was trying to keep this meeting as casual and pleasant as possible for now. It was never a sure thing bringing in new operatives. Peter was much better at convincing people of the altruism and duty and whatever else good things there were to be done. Noah’s focus had always been more mercenary. He kept a flexible enough morality to do what needed to be done, regardless of the cost. But that didn’t always sit well on a first meeting.

Sylar raised and eyebrow at Noah, almost challenging him for a moment. After a short pause, however, Sylar eventually stood from his seat and walked over to the door. Without hesitating, he gave a little flick of his index finger and sent the computer monitor crashing to the floor. “Don’t be rude, Noah.” Were the only words he said before slamming the door shut behind him.

He had a few ideas up his sleeve about how to deal with the Company man, should the need arise. But part of him wanted to set things in motion now so he wouldn’t have to hurry things later. A wide grin spread across his face at the thought of destroying him, even if it didn’t last long. It was something he’d always been fond of.

After receiving the email from Peter about her assignment, Jeny went through the file on her temporary partner. Honestly, she wasn’t sure how to feel about him. there were things that she didn’t like at all and made her not want to trust him, but the stuff one him over the past few years was a little more comforting. How he’d become dedicated to helping Evos instead of bagging-and-tagging the, among other things.

Resigning herself to the fact that she would have to at least give Noah a chance, Jenny closed her laptop and picked up a paper file of jobs that needed to be done around the garage. There weren’t many, just one car that needed a new alternator and another that needed a new a/c unit. Letting out another sigh, she tossed the folder across her small desk. Those parts still had another day or two before arriving, so there wasn’t anything to do just yet.

Just as Jenny about to call it quits a little early and head home, she heard her name being called from the main part of the garage. “In here!” She called, giving herself a mental smack on the head. Jenny had almost completely forgotten that Noah was meeting her today. She’d been too wrapped up in reading his Fortis file.

Standing up, Jenny walked over to the door and peeked around the corner, spotting him a few feet away. “Yes, I am.” Jenny wasn’t planning to admit that she’d almost forgotten about their meeting. “Glad you found the place alright.”

Noah smiled wanly at the greeting. It was the same blank, placating smile he’d been using for decades to convince people he was just another bland, middle-aged desk jokey. Which, he supposed, these days he more or less was---though somehow it always did seem to be less than anticipated.

He couldn’t help the small growl that left his chest at Noah’s implication. “Of course I do.” But most people were too stupid to notice, though now that the government knew about them, they probably weren’t going to let something like that slip so easily.

Part of Sylar wanted to leave right then and there. However, seeing as how easily Noah was agreeing to things, this partnership was going to prove more useful than he’d thought. Besides, he had plans for Noah should all of this go south. Should Noah turn his back on their partnership. Part of Noah hoped he was stupid enough to do something like that so he could watch the company mane squirm, but Sylar knew better than that.

When Noah suggested waiting another week, he ground his teeth together. It wasn’t necessarily the waiting that irritated him, but rather the fact that Noah wanted to give him an assignment and tell him how to kill them. Finally, a smirk crossing his lips , Sylar nodded. “Fine.” He didn’t like taking orders and Noah should have known that, so whatever Sylar decided to do instead was on Noah.

“Good,” Noah said, inclining his head toward the door. “That’ll be all.”

He was aware that Sylar wouldn’t take the dismissal well, but Noah didn’t have the patience for civility---not where Sylar was involved. Noah was pitching this as a partnership, but there was too much bad blood between them for either man to believe that was what was really on the table. It would all come down to who betrayed who first. Noah expected that would be Sylar, in fact was counting on it. Or at least, that was one of his contingencies. He had several. After the way things had gone with Danko, Noah would have been a fool not to have a myriad of backup plans; then again, he supposed even entertaining the idea of this plot was idiotic. Unfortunately, he didn’t have many options. At least not yet.

intuitivegray:

Sylar couldn’t help but laugh at Noah. It was amusing and frustrating at the same time. The company man thought so little of him; as if Sylar couldn’t learn from his mistakes or didn’t plan. In fact, Sylar planned a lot more than Noah knew about. He’d planned a great deal of what he’d done in the previous years. For Noah to completely disregard that was annoying, but it also wasn’t surprising.

“Do you honestly think I didn’t consider any of that?” Admittedly, although not to Noah, he hadn’t considered killing others outside of the EHRA circle until Peter mentioned it, but the rest? “Aside from shapeshifting, I’m not using my abilities to kill these people, Noah. It’s too risky. Even I know that.” He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at him. It was almost ceremonial with the two of them together. “However, I’ll take your help in creating…plausible motive. How about, since you’re surprisingly supportive of this entire ordeal, you create the story and put the pieces together. And I’ll do the killing.”

It was a risk and Sylar knew it, but this was also a way for Sylar to continue doing what he wanted while being able to watch Noah from afar. If he could see how Noah was putting things together, then he could make sure that Noah wasn’t going to turn on him. Or at least, he’d be able to tell ahead of time if Noah was planning to. It seemed like the best solution.

“We’ll stick with what we know. You make the plans, I’ll do the dirty work. Unless of course, you want to help with the killing.” Secretly, a part of Sylar hoped that Noah did want to take part in it. That would have just made it more obvious how alike they were and Sylar loved to rub that in Noah’s face. Especially in front of Claire. It would have been helpful in dealing with Peter too, with how their relationship was going lately.

Noah raised an eyebrow at Sylar. “I wasn’t talking about killing people with your powers, Gabriel. Even you’re not reckless enough to do that. But there are other ways to track a pattern. Surely you must know that?”

Noah kept his voice flat. It was tempting to talk down to Sylar, to treat him like a child, but it wouldn’t be prudent to rankle him any further than Noah already had; the words were condescending enough without any additional intonation. Sylar was acquiescing a little easier than predicted, but that wasn’t alarming, necessarily. He clearly had plans of his own in mind, but Noah had expected that. He’d be watching. Waiting. Just as he had been all these years.

He narrowed his eyes after a moment leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms. “It took years for anyone to even figure out who I was without a shapeshifting ability, I think I know what I’m doing, Noah. But–” He shrugged, looking a bit intrigued. “–I’ll at least hear what you have to say.”

“I think you’ll find it’s much harder move around these days, shapeshifting or no. The public knows about evos, Gabrielle. That means they know what you can do. So obvious or not, eventually someone is going to see the pattern in who you’re killing, and then it’s only a matter of time until a paranoid official, dedicated law enforcement agent, or conspiracy theorist puts the pieces together.” Noah didn’t add that underestimating normal people was a mistake. Sylar either knew that or he didn’t. Most likely he was too arrogant to care, which suited Noah just fine. Pride had a way of breeding complacency more often than not, and when it finally did come time put Sylar down for good, Noah wanted every advantage he could get.

“You need to cover your tracks in more ways than just your identity. We need to create plausible motives for the deaths; some can be random, but others should be targeted---just not targeted by you. Ideally, you don’t want to have to kill anyone; you want to manoeuvre groups against each other. The problem with your thinking, Gabriel, is that it’s always been small time.

“Before you start making a mess, I want a list of all your targets. Then you and I are gonna do some surveillance, figure out how to draw a divide between our enemies and let them destroy each other.”

He paused, watching for Sylar’s reaction.

“It’s pathetic how naive Peter is. Not cute.” He paused a moment and eventually sat down in front of Noah’s desk if only to keep from throwing something or punching Noah should the conversation go south. “Well, clearly he left out the part where I’m not killing Evos.” Sylar muttered, cocking an eyebrow at Noah. “I’ve been killing all the humans involved with making the EHRA mandatory. And I’ve been shifting into other people to make the murders look like a non-evo did it.” 

Hearing that Sylar was clear on his motivations was good. It should make him easier to manipulate, easier to aim in the right direction. It was hard to point and click with an unhinged psychopath, but a zealot? Well, Noah had his share of experience moving pieces like that across the board.

Sylar finished frothing about his boredom; Noah pulled his glasses off his face and cleaned them with his shirt and replaced them. They weren’t particularly dirty, but it gave him something to do to avoid answering, and silence was usually good for making people squirm, especially if they were already uncomfortable. 

That fact that Noah didn’t look too bothered by this was more than a little odd. It meant that Peter had told him all the facts or Noah had been expecting Sylar to revert to the serial killer. He wouldn’t have been too surprised by either, though was annoyed that Peter had told Noah. Clearly, Sylar had been a little too hopeful that he would have kept it from Noah.

“Peter told me what you’ve been up to, Gabriel, and he’s very disappointing in you. I think he actually believed you could change.” He knew it wasn’t helpful, but Noah couldn’t help the dig and a gentle scoff. “Kind of cute, don’t you think? How naive Peter still is.”

@mrbennets

Sylar had been afraid of this; that Noah would find out what he’d been up to. Peter must have told him, that was the only explanation. Noah requesting to meet with Sylar was never good and honestly, very tedious. He didn’t want to do, but then also not showing up would provoke him and what if Noah saw things differently than Peter? He was morally gray after all and had said so himself on multiple occasions.

Huffing loudly, Sylar pushed open Noah’s office door without knocking. If he’d been expecting him, then it shouldn’t have been an issue anyway. When he found Noah at his desk, he couldn’t help but smirk slightly. Typical.

The door swung open and there he was, standing in the middle of Noah’s office, touching everything in sight like a child at a petting zoo. Noah huffed. Moving out the Village had seemed like a good idea at the time---his new apartment was spacious and the neighbourhood had at least a hint of greenery---but being so far from the office meant he and Malina slept here as often as not and while she didn’t seem to mind, he was begin to resent his lumpy sofa and the poor water pressure in the gym locker room. It left him feeling rumpled and achy, and in no mood for Sylar’s damned games. Still, it had been Noah’s idea to call this meeting, he might as well make an attempt at civility.