Being Matt Parkman

Participants

kaydence_icon.gif matt_icon.gif peter2_icon.gif

Scene Title Being Matt Parkman
Synopsis It's not easy being Matt Parkman, and anyone who thinks it is has a lesson to learn.
Date October 22, 2008

Dorchester Towers: Matt's Apartment

Of all of the spacious apartments of Dorchester Towers which more than likely still cost an arm and a leg each month in rent, apartment number 404 is likely to be the least furnished of them all. The high-ceilinged space still sports the drab white paint it had when its current resident first moved in. Whereas the Towers are home to various members of New York's high-end white collar bread-winners, this one appears to be lived in by college student.

The kitchen table is cluttered with newspapers and the occasional pizza box or empty beer bottle, and the same decor theme is repeated on the coffee table that separates a second-hand couch from a television that is somewhere between top of the line and rabbit-ears worthy. The same style is echoed throughout the sparsely furnished rooms, including a bedroom which holds only a cardboard box nightstand, a lamp, and a mattress on the floor.


The elevator lets out a soft ding as the doors slide open, and Matt Parkman's face reflects on the brass colored elevator doors before they slide apart. Uneasily stepping into the hallway, he glances up one side and down the other, trying to figure out the numbering conventions. Once he spots apartment 404, he nods, hands sliding into the pockets of his jacket as he walks. Dark eyes lift up to look at the security camera at the end of the hall, head craning to the side to work some of the tension out of his neck. Arriving at the door, he waves one hand at the camera, and there is a buzzing sound in the lock as a green light shines by the card-lock, and the front door swings open.

Stepping inside, Matt is quick to shut the door behind him with a brush of one foot, looking around at the decour that was not exactly what was expected of a Homeland Security officer's apartment, espescially in Dorchester Towers. He reaches up one hand, tugging at his collar as a bead of sweat rolls down his brow — This isn't as easy as it seems. Swallowing dryly, his eyes scan around the apartment, but a noise from the bedroom causes him to freeze in place.

The apartment is as clean as Kay's going to make it for now, and so it's time for a well deserved break. All the old pizza boxes have been tossed in the trash and the newspapers have been stacked up into one neat pile. This deserves a beer. Kaydence emerges from the bedroom wrapped in only her bathrobe with a towel around her hair, the beer she was sipping on as she soaked in the tub held loosely between two fingers. She blinks several times when she sees the man of the house. "Matt. I didn't think you'd be back so soon." She smirks and saunters her way toward him. "Should'a warned me. I'd have at least done something with my hair." She glances around and looks faintly disappointed. "Where's that case of honey weiss you promised me?"

Standing frozen in his tracks in the door, Parkman swallows as he sees the woman come sauntering out of the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her head and the bathrobe covering her. He smiles, hesitantly, "It's been a hell of a day," he admits with one hand brushing across his forehead to wipe the sweat from it. As Matt moves from the doorway, he seems stiffer than usual, like that little bit of extra weight on him is just weighing him a little extra today. He only walks a little ways further into the apartment, eyes darting around before looking back up to Kaydence.

"I locked myself out, can you believe it? They actually had to buzz me in at the front desk." He laughs to himself, shaking his head as fingers brush over his brow again, and he keeps searching for something. "Hey ah, I'm actually only back for a little bit." Eyes divert back to the leggy woman in the bathrobe, "Do you know where I put my contact info for Molly? I drove all the way back out here to pick it up…" Eyes scan the apartment as if viewing it for the first time, though perhaps it's because it's clean. All in all though, Matt doesn't look so good, fatigue has clearly taken a toll on him.

"Matt." Kay's brows furrow and she approaches the man. "You don't look so good. Sit down." She guides him to the couch and pushes him down to sit. She peers almost skeptically at him for a moment before her expression turns into something far more coy. "What did you think last night about that thing I can do with my tongue? I call it the swirl."

Matt turns around a few moments after the hands are laid on his shoulders, edging back away from Kaydence with his head tilted to the side. He raises one brow, looking at the woman intently, "I — " There's a good deadpan look of not knowing how the hell to respond to that, mouth gaping for a moment before there's a look in his eyes that Kaydence recalls intimately, that look of when he's trying to get into her head. He only seems to sweat more when that happens, exhaling a deep breath as the aborted attempt seems to exhaust him even further. He stumbles back, and reluctantly settles down in the chair, "I ah… I — " He can't find the words to explain just how awkward this is. He never wanted to get this deep into things.

Kaydence Lee knows that look well. She doesn't always know how to hide her thoughts entirely from Matt, but she's gotten better about thinking of other things when she has to. No cheating. When he comes up with no response, the woman springs into action. She lunges forward suddenly, one hand wrapped tightly around the throat of the man on the couch. "You are not Matt Parkman. Who are you?"

It's at that moment that the door opens, the jingling of keys obscured by Kaydence's raised voice. Other than the soft squeak that sounds with the swinging of the opening door, the only noise that heralds the /real/ Matt Parkman's arrival is that of a grocery bag dropping to the ground, spilling its various contents, the rustle of fabric, and the click of a pistol's hammer.

"Get out of the way, Kaydence," Matt says in that firm, calm voice of a practiced negotiator. "I'm going to shoot this murdering nutjob in the head, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Y-you really don't want to do that." There's a hissing sound in the back of the other Matt's throat, eyes widening. He'd completely blown his cover, the weight he has to displace, coupled with his unfamiliarity with the ability simply was too much. The failure of focusing enough to utilize his telepathy simply is the last straw. Matt's hands clench into fists, and there's a momentary low rumble in the air, and Kaydence is ejected from where she stands, hurtling backwards towards where the real Parkman has come bursting in. In that movement, Parkman rises to his feet, stumbling back enough to strike the table with a clattering sound, he turns towards the large windows across the room, and they buckle in and out for a moment before exploding towards the street, raining down tiny bits of safety glass. He staggers again, the exertion of something as simple as telekinesis causing him to lean down against the shoved table, and Parkman can see his doppleganger's skin ripple like the surface of water for a moment.

Kaydence shrieks as she's suddenly flung across the room, barely given a moment to register her real friend. She collapses to the floor in a motionless heap - unconscious.

Matt does his best to catch Kaydence when she comes rocketing toward him, though he acts as more of a cushioned barrier than anything. He himself is slammed back against the doorframe at the same time the windows buckle and Kaydence slides to the floor where she remains still.

It takes Matt a split second to take a quick yet deep and shuddering breath as he pulls his gun back into position and takes aim on the slumping figure. He doesn't speak. He only squeezes that trigger. Again and again, unloading the clip into the imposter Parkman's torso. Halfway through the clip, Matt opens his mouth into a primal scream of rage. This is the man who caused the havoc in The Company. This is the man who blew up the city. This is the man who killed Molly's parents.

This man needs to die.

"Matt wa — " The hail of gunfire and falling shell casings sends Parkman's doppleganger staggering back to smash against the wall between two windows. As the bullets perforate his body, skin and clothing ripples and shifts like the surface of a pond that has had several stones thrown into it, and the doppleganger's facial features distort and deform, until eventually they settle on an expression of a horrified Peter Petrelli, slumping up against the wall and then sliding down into a seated position, both hands laid down at his sides. The scar across his face travels in that same deep, brow-to-cheek gash, and the clothing he wears matches the last time Parkman had seen him at the Primatech facility in the city.

For a moment, only the rattling of shell casings on the ground, then after a moment a gurgling breath that is sucked in through reforming lungs. Bullets force their way thorugh flesh and hit the ground with clattering clinks, and for all that deep inhalation, Peter breathes out an even deeper sigh of relief — it isn't easy being Matt Parkman.

In the time that it takes, Matt crosses the floor and slides another clip into his gun from the holder at his belt. He always carries a spare, but it's his last go-round. Matt had, however, expected Sylar, not Peter, to appear where his double had been. Still, he wouldn't put it past the cunning maniac to try and fool him twice. Shame on Sylar. "The /hell/ are you doing in my apartment?" Matt growls out, pointing the gun at the Matt-turned-Peter's head and glaring down the barrel.

Peter groans, loudly, one hand moving up to his head, "I didn't mean for her to be here — I just…" He winces, fingers running thorugh his hair. "I needed to find your contact information for Molly. The Company won't tell me where she is…" He leans back against the wall, head thumping there lightly, and it's obvious he doesn't have the energy to get up out of the pool of blood on the floor yet. "Look, Matt… Adam Munroe has Bob's daughter, they're going to kill her unless we find them. They — They won't risk breaking Company and Homeland relations by forcing them to turn over Walker, or even ask for her use." He swallows, dryly, regenerating that much has an unfortunate effect of cottonmouth, not to mention the salty taste of blood that's everywhere at the moment.

"I… I didn't want anyone to have to get in trouble. Slip in, get the info… teleport in to Molly and just see her for a couple of seconds." He holds his forehead with one hand, the earlier, aborted attempt at telepathy seems to have given him a severe migraine. "Elle's going to die, Matt." He finally sees that Kaydence isn't getting up, and his eyes grow wide. "Jesus christ… is she okay?"

The temptation to look at Kaydence, to check on her, grows faster and faster within Matt. But he pushes it away, focusing on Peter. "So you broke into my /home?/" he asks, narrowing his eyes. He knows he can't get into Peter's head, that any effort will only produce feedback, and so he tried to read the man's face to verify his statement.

The fact that Elle might die isn't as powerful as Peter may have wanted it to be, but a death is a death. Elle, though a Company agent, hasn't done anything against Matt or his loved ones personally. He tenses, obviously weighing the life of one man's daughter against the one he calls his own. "You found people before you had Molly. You did it then. Why can't you do it now? Why can't you just let her be a normal little girl?" As much of one as she can where she is, at least.

Peter doesn't risk the joke that he was let in by the front desk. "Because Adam is too smart!" Peter's eyes level on Kaydence again, he can see her breathing — for now that's enough. His eyes flit back up to Parkman again, "I — I don't know, Adam's avoiding everything. We have agents everywhere and the only people who have run into him were members of PARIAH. It's like he knows exactly what the Company is planning at any given time, the isotope tracking is giving us nonsense, it's like he hows how the data is extrapolated. Matt, if there was any other way…" His brow tenses, the scar on his face creasing. "All I need to do is get next to her. She doesn't even have to know I'm there — Stop time, walk up, and I'm gone. If I can do what she can do, I can stop them." His jaw tenses, eyes moving back to Kaydence, "I… I don't want to hurt anyone." He looks down at his hands, then back up to Parkman, "Christ just check on her, I'm not going anywhere…"

"Give me one good reason to believe you!" Matt roars, the gun shaking slightly in his sweaty grip. "And why the fuck is The Company cooperating with PARIAH? I thought you cut ties, Peter. I thought you changed sides. How the fuck can I trust you anywhere near Molly, let alone with her ability?"

"They're not!" Peter clutches his hands tight at his side, "I'm not working with PARIAH anymore I just — " His brow tenses, jaw clenching, "Someone I care about is with them still, someone I love, and — I just — I can't cut myself away from her. She feeds me info that I can use to help people with the Company, and I keep her safe. Are you happy?"

He swallows, dryly, the taste of blood strong in his mouth, "I'm on the side of saving lives, Matt. Doesn't matter who's doing it…" His brows tense, watching Parkman closely, "Matt, I'm not going to hurt her. When I attacked the Company facility with PARIAH, we wer being mislead by Sylar, he tricked us all, you know that. All we wanted to do was kill him, and break Molly free. We thought they were holding her prisoner… I… I thought they still were right up until recently."

"You can't play both sides, Peter," Matt fumes, the lower half of his face twitching almost imperceptibly. "You can't be a terrorist and a patriot. It doesn't work that way." Considering for a moment, Matt squints, though not in the telepathic sense. "Turn in the terrorists, and I'll ask Molly where Adam is." Because there is no way her power is safe in the hands of someone like Peter.

"I can't do that, I don't even know where they are anymore." Peter narrows his eyes, "I won't turn her in. I'm not that person." Peter's brow tenses, visibly upset as much as Matt is. "I'm not playing both sides, I work for the Company, that's who I answer to and that's who I follow the orders of. But when beaurocracy gets in the way of a girl's life, I'll break the line and do what I have to do to save her." Her looks away from Parkman for a moment, "I could…" He mumbles distractedly, "I could take you and Molly somewhere, Matt. All the way across the world if I had to, take you away from all of this… Let her have a life." His eyes close, head lowering, "I can't turn them in. I won't."

"Then I can't trust you with that kind of power." Matt's voice is steady once more, but far from calm. It's simply a decision and the determination to stand by it. He takes a single step away from Peter, giving the man a bit more room. "Where's your next stop, Peter? Do I need to alert the President that you've taken to impersonating government officials in order to get what you want? People die. And there is nothing we can do about it sometimes. You can't always be a hero, Peter."

Peter narrows his eyes slightly as he looks up, then his expression softens. He looks over to Kaydence, then back to Parkman, "No, I can't…" His eyes are reddened on the edges, "But I'll keep trying. Because that's what's right." Then, with that crestfallen and defeated look, there's a hint of a smile on his face as he says, "I'll be in Tokyo." Then, he's simply gone in the blink of an eye, with a rush of air blowing into the space where his body once occupied.

The gun is immediately uncocked and replaced, and Matt whips out his phone with a speed equal to a western gunslinger. Instead of dialing 9-11, he dials his office to get an investigative team and a medic on the way, ASAP, as well as to spout of suggestions to his superiors and orders to his subordinates regarding the apprehension of Peter Petrelli, known terrorist. Yes, even if it means coordinating with the CSI and Tokyo in order to attempt to apprehend him there, as difficult an undertaking as that may be. Matt kneels beside Kaydence as he speaks, his voice quick and hard. Once Homeland Security is informed and in motion, Matt places a second call.

"Hey, Mom. It's me."


Transcript of a public statement made on October 22, 2008 by Homeland Security General Counsel Matt Parkman at roughly 9:00 PM.

Thank you all for coming out so late.

This evening I was made aware of a certain Evolved individual's ability to change his appearance to mimic someone else's. What makes this worse is that this particular individual is not limited to this alone, but has several other abilities, is known to be a former member of the terrorist organization PARIAH, and retains contacts within that organization.

I, on behalf of Homeland Security, urge you to speak with your friends, family members, and work associates to establish forms of recognition that could not be easily found out in order to keep yourself and your families safe from this new threat to our nation. When this individual was last seen, he expressed a desire to go to Tokyo, Japan. Rest assured that he will be pursued there by both American and Japanese forces, but we strongly suggest that you do not delay in taking these protective measures.

Again, I thank you for your time. Have a safe evening.


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October 22nd: Fui Quod Sis

Previously in this storyline…


Next in this storyline…

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October 22nd: Unusual Pizza Delivery
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