Let's Go Fix It

Participants:

ando_icon.gif hiro_icon.gif niki1_icon.gif peter_icon.gif

Scene Title Let's Go Fix It
Synopsis After narrowly escaping a raid on Primatech Paper, Hiro Nakamura finally enlists the aid of Peter Petrelli.
Date November 8, 2011

The distant thump of bass-heavy music pounds through the walls of a Las Vegas nightclub's back office. Posters showcasing the city at night line the walls in neon against black. Dressing tables cover one wall, with tall light-framed mirrors reflecting racks of clothes, robes, heeled shoes, tall boots, wigs, and other apparel. In the interstitial hours between the early AM shows and when the club re-opens in the afternoon the space is unoccupied. Old cigarettes rest in ash trays next to half finished glasses of champagne, bottles nearby sitting in luke-warm buckets of water. A mirror lays out on a countertop, a few unfinished lines of cocaine streaked across it with partly rolled up dollar bill beside its frame.

The cocaine blows across the mirror at a sudden rush of displaced air blowing across the dressing room in a brief gust. With a flutter of dark cloth, Peter Petrelli manifests in the room like a ghost, one hand on the shoulder of Ando Masahashi, the other on the chest of an unconscious Hiro Nakamura, who drops from mid-air onto a low backed black leather sofa. Peter sweeps his dark eyes over to Ando, and looks at him with narrowed eyes and an intent expression. He can hardly believe what he's seeing, and a tension rises in his chest as he takes a step back, peering through a window in time to a man he knows should be dead.


Ultra Luxe Strip Club

Las Vegas, Nevada


"Thank you," Ando humbly offers to Peter after a long moment of awkward silence. For a moment, there's nothing Peter can say. Guilt rises and falls with each breath, silence where he feels like there should be apology.

Peter tilts his head to the side, looking at Ando with added scrutiny. "Is that really you, Ando?"

"Why are you so surprised to see me?" Ando takes a step forward, turning his attention from Peter to Hiro, then back again with eyes narrowed. He wants to know the answer, even if he's afraid he already knows it. When Peter's expression sinks and his eyes close, he can feel what's coming in his chest.

"He didn't tell you…" Peter trails off, starts to walk away with one hand scrubbing at his forehead frustratedly. Then, passing by a round table, Peter sets Hiro's Kensei sword down atop it.

"What?" Ando snaps back at Peter, following him the few feet of distance, not letting this conversation drop. Peter pauses, back to Ando, and presses his lips tightly together as hands clench into fists.

Without turning around, Peter coarsly throws, "You're… dead," back at Ando. The revelation isn't as much of a shock, now, after seeing everything. The context is more important, especially given all of the tragedy Ando has seen since his arrival in this time.

"How?" Ando takes another step closer, and Peter turns around with averted eyes.

"In New York," he almost can't clarify. "The bomb." His throat is tight when he admits that, but when he lifts his stare from the floor to Ando, he's not sure he could have kept that in any longer.

"Really?" There's a sense of disbelief in Ando's words, not because he doubt the facts, but because he thought it would somehow be worse. Being atomized in nuclear fire feels like a mercy compared to living in the nightmarish world that has been born in its aftermath. Peter takes a few steps away, pulling out one of the chairs from the dressing table and taking a seat.

"Do you remember how he used to be?" Peter looks over at Hiro, slouching deep into the leather. He rests his head in one hand, shifting his attention from Hiro's unconscious body to Ando. "All full of hope and optimism?"

"Of course. That's the Hiro I know." Ando leans back against the corner of a table opposite of Peter, hands curling around the edge. He slacks his shoulders as well, the tension he'd felt since arriving in this time having finally faded away. The truth, though tragic, is liberating. He watches Hiro in the silence between he and Peter's conversation, then pushes away from the table and picks up a thin blanket with the Ultra Luxe logo on it from the edge of the couch, draping it over Hiro's unconscious body.

"He went away the day you died," Peter finally explains, his focus distant and voice small. "Between you and me, I think you're the reason why he became so obsessed with trying to change it all back. He wants to save you." It's an obsession Peter can't fault him for, one that he would have himself were he not so convinced that his own trespass into the past would only worsen the future. He and Ando both fall silent, watching Hiro with the weight of the future settling down heavily on both of them.

After a few moments, the door to the dressing room opens. "Hey, baby, you in here?" Niki's voice breaks the silence as she steps in and comes to an abrupt stop, seeing Hiro laid out on the couch and Ando standing over him. They had talked about this, agreed that they both needed the fight. But seeing Ando and Hiro here now, seeing the sunken look in Peter's eyes. To Niki it means this is all finally real, that the fight is already here. She gives Peter a single, steady look, and turns right back out the door. Peter's neck tenses, and he leans forward and rises from his seat.

On his way past Ando, Peter briefly rests a hand on his shoulder, and then continues on out the door. Once Peter is gone, Ando finally walks away from Hiro and walks to the sword on the table. He reaches out, picking up the sheathed katana, then traces his fingers over the gold symbol on its wrapped grip. The moment Ando's finger touches the symbol, Hiro's eyes startle open. He reaches up, reflexively grabbing the spot on his chest where the taser darts had punctured his jacket, then bolts up into a seated position.

Ando slides the sword partway out of its scabbard, looking at his distorted reflection in the blade. "You've always wanted to become a kendo master," Ando muses with a distant tone to his voice. Hiro exhales a confused breath, looks at his chest, then around to the dressing room. After a moment, what must have happened comes crashing down on him. He sits forward, elbows on his knees and head briefly in his hands. He looks up, manages a lopsided smile at Ando.

"I studied in Tohoku," Hiro corrects gently, "so technically I'm a Battojutsu master." Ando looks over at him, closing the sword with an exasperated look.

"«Why do you always have to correct me?»" Ando switches to Japanese, turning to look back at Hiro.

Hiro frowns, "«Because there’s a difference.»"

"«What difference?»" Ando walks over to the couch, sword in hand. "«You’re still a hero. You became everything you wanted to be and I…»" Ando looks to the sword, then up to Hiro. "«I became dead.»"

That sends a knife of tension into Hiro's chest. A tingle runs down the back of his neck, jaw tenses reflexively. Ando takes a step away, looking at the sword's scabbard again. Hiro, though, understands who filled Ando in on the uncomfortable truth. "«Peter told you?»"

"«Looks like you fought a lot of battles,»" Ando doesn't bother to confirm what Hiro already knows.

"«More than I’d like to remember.»" Hiro looks down to his lap, folding his hands and hunching forward.

Ando turns part way to Hiro, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "«How was it?»" After everything he's seen, the question is more rhetorical than now.

"«Not nearly as fun…»" Hiro smiles ruefully, "«without you.»" The two share a look, and Ando exhales a weary sigh as he steps over and holds out the Kensei sword. Hiro smiles, faintly, and reaches up to take the sword from his friend.

The door to the dressing room opens, and Peter comes storming in, throwing his jacket on. Hiro rises to his feet, and Peter levels a steady look at him. "Is everything okay?" Ando asks, and Peter shakes his head, teeth pressing into his lower lip. In the doorway behind him, Niki stands with her arms crossed and a long bag draped over her shoulder. Peter walks right past Hiro and toward the door that leads out to the club floor.

"No." Peter affirms, "Let's go fix it." Hiro and Ando turns to move behind Peter, and after a moment, Niki follows behind them.

This was the beginning of the end.


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