Knowledge Is Power

Participants:

mohinder_icon.gif odessa_icon.gif sylar_icon.gif

Scene Title Knowledge is Power
Synopsis Knowing really is only half the battle. But, the more you know…
Date January 2, 2009

Eagle Electric

Most notable business collapse in Queens was that of Eagle Electric, a major manufacturer based out of Long Island City for decades, comprised of acres of warehouses and manufacturing plants designed to produce electronic components to suit all sorts of needs. The western warehouse of the Eagle Electric lot is an enormous and foreboding red-painted building made entirely from sheets of ridged steel. Amidst the grass growing up through the cracks in the pavement and the burned out cars in the parking lot, it seems just as uninhabited as the rest of the area. A large and ruined sign at the top of the office and manufacturing building prominently reads, "Eagle Electric—Perfection Is Not An Accident."


In all of the Eagle Electric facilities, this room is not the largest there is - but it's still immense. A storage space, upstairs, accessible through an immense elevator designed for metal cargo crates, and the windows are blocked of light with electrical tape and nailed planks of wood. The fluorescent light casts an unhealthy-seeming light around the space, a space that seems to be set up as a laboratory. Indeed, metal counters and equipment fill up the room, computers, glass, and even two hospital beds pushed to the wall, complete with restraints. These are empty, covered in plastic, and in the middle of it all, Mohinder is puppeted to sit down upon a metal chair, at a vantage point best serve to see what's around him, face towards one of the metal cargo containers, pushed against the wall. This is where Sylar is perched, feet hanging a few feet off the ground, hands curled around the edge. The heels of his boots clang rhythmically against the side of the iron for a moment, before settling, and he offers the geneticist a smile that's far from warm.

"Welcome home."

Odessa follows Sylar and Mohinder's lead of her own volition, though not necessarily because Eagle Electric is where she wants to be. "Let him go, Sylar," she pleads. "He's not going to go anywhere." She stands nearby Mohinder, though out of arm's reach in case Sylar decides to do something sinister with his new puppet. At her sides, Doctor Knutson's fingers twitch nervously.

Mohinder is led like a marionette to the middle of room where the chair is. He says nothing, he can't do anything. There's no getting anything out of him by this point. He doesn't even look at Odessa.

Sylar keeps his eyes trained on Mohinder, despite the man's lack of response. He waits a moment, then says, "Would you like that, Mohinder?" Another pause, his heel clangs again against the crate he sits on. "I could let you go if I think I can trust you. Make me trust you." A chuckle for a moment and he adds, "Let you go physically, I mean, you'll be staying in this room for a while."

"Stop it." Odessa's voice quavers as she makes her demand. She slowly steps further away from Sylar, toward one of the stainless steel work benches.

Mohinder finds a fixed point to stare at and does so. He does nothing. He says nothing. He will give them exactly nothing. He's not sure how Odessa is playing into all this, but he sure she is now, and so she gets nothing as well. His reasoning? You get nothing. You LOSE. Good DAY, sir.

"No?" Sylar says, ignoring Odessa, it seems. The smile, as cold as it was, vanishes entirely. He pushes himself off the crate, landing lithely. The bruise he now has from Mohinder's blow twinges, but he doesn't let it show. "Then I guess we cut to the chase." He holds out a hand towards Odessa, now, and the blonde will find herself unwillingly drawn towards him, making her impractical shoes scrape against the cement floor as he does. He grips her arm harshly, jostling her once. "Why don't you tell the rest of the class what we've been working on?" The 'we've' comes sarcastically, a sneer.

Just before Doctor Knutson's fingers can close around a syringe from the table, Sylar makes his move. She whimpers and struggles in vain, trying to pry her arm from the killer's grip. "He made me take them to Shanti," she explains to Mohinder. His stony silence is not lost on her and she's desperate for a return of that forgiveness he'd shown her before. "I didn't think they'd be able to get through the door to get to her." Her lips twist into a miserable expression. "They wanted me to manipulate in such a way that she can wipe out the Evolved. Every last one of them. But I don't have that kind of knowledge." A sob causes her whole body to shake and she fixes her terrified gaze on Mohinder. "I'm sorry! They were going to kill me! I didn't know what else to do!" And so she gave Doctor Suresh up to whoever 'they' are.

Mohinder can't turn his head, but he can speak. "So you thought you would bring them the one who could?" he says, voice strained through a paralyzed body. "It was smart to do, Odessa. However..Sylar..you forget: Everything has a price." he says, his voice edgy, his mind is a boggle right now. He's used to order, and chaos like this throws him off. But he's always thinking.

Odessa's arm is released, the woman shoved aside - not especially roughly, but in a discarding gesture. "Are you trying to negotiate with me?" Sylar asks of Mohinder, tone curious. "Or are you being high and mighty? Either way - spare me. There's work to be done."

The blonde doctor loses her footing and tumbles to the ground with a grunt. "I'm sorry, Doctor Suresh. I just didn't want to die." Self-preservation is a bitch sometimes. Though the way she looks at Sylar when Odessa turns her fearful gaze back up to him suggest she believes he'll kill her anyway.

Mohinder has the upper hand, and he knows it, no matter what. When he speaks, he doesn't say anything to Odessa. At least not for the time being. The doctor is thinking quickly, however due the paralysis, he speaks in the same strained voice: "You need work done. She can't do it. Only I can, Sylar. So that means I get to negotiate terms. Or you can do whatever it is you're going to do, and bring wrath down upon you like you've never experienced." he pauses, "Or you can parlay with me, and get what it is you want. Besides…what I ask is so little in return for what you're getting."

It's a deviation. A variable, if you will. Sylar tilts his head, cold, dead eyes fixed on the scientist. He manages not to glance Odessa's way, taking this new information in for himself and himself only, stepping forward to stand in front of the paralysed scientist by a couple of feet. He raises a cynical eyebrow, even as he says, "So what do you want, Mohinder?"

Odessa doesn't climb to her feet, but she does pull herself up enough to kneel, glancing back and forth between the two 'negotiating' men.

Mohinder looks Sylar in the eyes. The stare is a dead one, though. Staring only because he can't turn his head, and even moving his eyes is an effort in this condition. How do paraplegics do it? He shakes off his scientist's tangent. He says simply, "Let Odessa Go. She's suffered enough. You know I've all the knowledge to do whatever insidious thing you want me to do. It'll be on my conscience to handle."

Sylar seems to be considering it, for a few moments. His gaze drops to the ground, as if thoughtful, and this time spares a glance towards Odessa, as if evaluating her usefulness. "After," he says, looking back at Mohinder, "she makes sure you're picking up where she left off, then we can return to our negotiations." No promises whatsoever. His tone is mocking, and his head turns again to regard Odessa. "Come, Dr. Knutson. I think Dr. Suresh needs to time to think about his situation a little more. He appears to believe he's in some position of power." He makes for the door, moving around the puppeted Mohinder - apparently intent on leaving him there, just as he is. Apparently, range does not factor in.

Odessa climbs to her feet. "I'm sorry, Doctor Suresh." If she doesn't follow Sylar of her own free will, he'll just make her follow him. Like he made Mohinder follow. With one last apologetic look, she hurries off after Sylar.

Mohinder says softly, "You are forgiven, Odessa. I am trying..to help you..as I promised." he says. A certain bloom of truth blossoming in Mohinder's mind: If knowledge is power, then Mohinder is a powerful man.


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January 2nd: Half the Villain

Previously in this storyline…
So We Fight


Next in this storyline…
Foxhole

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January 2nd: Where Do We Go...
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