Chapter 7: Ambush in the valley.
Waking up the next day, I went about my daily routine, brushed my teeth, had a shower, and went to get some breakfast in a nearby diner.
As I sat down to eat however, my eyes drifted to the tv on the wall, and curiousity got the better of me, and I asked the owner for the remote. Flipping through the channels, I settled on a news show about a fire in Los Angeles, in the heart of the city.
A familiar face was posted in the corner of the screen as warning ran below.
Yup. Here we go. My plan worked. All the little signs, subliminal messages, and hints I dropped yesterday worked wonders!
Teddy had just escaped confinement.
And his first destination, I knew, would be Primatech Paper in Odessa, Texas.
And the moment he struck, would present me with the opportunity of a lifetime. For I suspect there were still old samples of the superpower serum in their vaults. And if true, perhaps I could skip off this world earlier than I expected.
Finishing my breakfast, I rushed back to my room, and got to work making what could very well be my final invention in this world.
An old Rick and Morty classic, the nine gauge laser pistol.
Fires a concentrated blast of heat that converts the air it passes through into plasma, simultaneously capturing it in an air pocket that propels through the targets, turning their insides to melted goo. Perfect for dealing with foes like Sylar and Peter, that can regenerate, or stop bullets mid air.
Hah! I'd like to see Sylar try and stop a plasma bolt!
This was no Star Wars, and Sylar certainly wasn't Kylo Ren.
Taking out a laser pointer, I began by disassembling it, before improving the circuitry, and outfitting it with a fiber optic cable fashioned from the camera whose lens I used yesterday. Then, taking off a toy satellite dish, I applied polarity plating on its insides, making it a heat resistant, concergent dome.
Then, reversing charge on the decoupler, I modified four AA batteries, fiiting them into the handle I fashioned off of a Nokia.
Finally, putting it all together, connecting the wiring, and welding it all shut, I inserted a spray bottle lever as the trigger, finishing it.
A bit crude for a laser pistol, but against half charred mall cops, it would work just fine.
Tucking it into my pants, I picked up my portal gun, opening a portal, this time to yeehaw country, Texas.
Portaling to Austin, I took a bus ride down to Odessa, passing by the Primatech facility by the highway, as I headed for the abandoned oil mills on the outskirts of the city.
This was where I was going to camp out for the next few days while Teddy makes his way to the facility on foot, like a peasant.
Close enough to act immediately, far enough to not be caught.
And so the wait began. Everyday, I would go down the road to the city, buying some breakfast, and listening for radio chatter on a handheld radio I bought earlier.
At first there was nothing. One day, then two and then three days passed with no incident, and I was almost beginning to believe they had given up, or wouldn't come, when suddenly on the fourth morning, my radio rang and odd crackle, as a voice appeared on it.
"Hello, hello mic testing. Mic testing." It said with a german accent.
"Uh hello?" I replied.
"Don't try to speak." it answered from the radio, "We can't hear you. Ted here says you helped him out with the company issue. So I'm willing to spare your life if you get down from the tower and come meet us. If not, I will snipe you out."
Fuck! They have a sniper rifle?!
Damn, they really took my advice to heart and came prepared.
And here I thought Teddy was an avenging brute type who would just brute force through the problems. That's what he did in the show after all!
But I guess my involvement did change some things. That's to be expected.
Immediately, I scrambled out of the tower and jumped into the underbrush, hiding, scanning the field for a vantage spot where they could shoot me from.
Spotting none, I fell low into the tall grass, hiding with bated breath as the radio came back to life.
"I can still see you idiot." The voice mocked, as a bullet zipped by, just inches from my hiding location, as I realised how they were tracking me, and who exactly it was that was tracking me.
It was one of the small side characters who didn't have much of a role in the story, and died early in this arc. A woman with a particular ability. Technopathy. The ability to talk to machines.
What was her name again? Godel, Gidel something.
Gitelman, yes. That's the one. Hana Gitelman.
Realizing the futility of evasion, I got up and walked out of my hiding spot, hands raised, as Parkman arrived to fetch me.
"Come on." He said, "She can be mercurial at best, so if you don't want to get shot, we better get going fast."
"What? No howdy, hello, how are you? Where's your manners Parkman?" I said, following behind him as another bullet zipped past, this time nipping at the hem of my jacket, sending the appropriate message.
As we arrived at a rocky ledge overlooking the valley, some ways from the oil mills, I finally saw the ragtag group they had put together in the four days I hadn't seen them.
Ted Sprague, Hana Gitelman, and unsurprisingly, Matt Parkman.
"Nice to meet you all." I said, offering the lady a handshake only to have my hand slapped away.
"What were you doing out there?" She asked, ignoring my greeting.
"Spying on the company?" I said, acting hesitant, shooting glances at the rifle in her hand.
"Or spying FOR the company!" She said, glaring accusingly at me.
"Geez lady, paranoid much? We're literally on the same side here." I said, trying to calm her down.
"No. We are victims of their testing, these powers they gave us. You on the other hand have no powers, and yet somehow know a lot about these people. And you expect me to trust you, why? These two maybe idiots, but I am not. What's you game here? What do want with the company? How do you know so much about them?" She asked, clutching her gun, ready to shoot.
"Alright, alright. Fine. I'll tell you. Just put the gun down. No need for infighting." I said, revealing a half truth from the plot, "I'm a time traveler. In the future, the company releases a plague that kills off 95 percent of the world population, so they can rule over the ashes of what is left. I came back in time to stop that from happening. That virus is stored in a vault in the facility down there. If I can get in there, I can destroy it, stop the tragedy from ever happening in the future. Happy?"
She looked at me scanning my face for something before she slowly lowered her weapon, and relaxed.
"Wait you believe him?" Parkman asked astonished.
"You can read minds, I can talk to computers and he's a living nuke. Time travel somehow doesn't sound as unbelievable after this." Hana replied.
"Thank you." I said, sarcastically, "Now what are you guys doing here, armed to the teeth too?"
"You told us to come prepared.
We did. We're going to find that man, Noah Bennet, and make him undo this stuff, these powers that he forced on us. And we'll have him remove the tracking thing he put in us." Ted replied, "And then we make him pay for what he did to us."
'Hey!" Parkman objected, "We decided we would only get rid of the trackers and get them to leave us alone. I didn't sign up for violence."
"Too late Parkman. You're already in on this." Hana said, "Besides, didn't you just hear what they do in future? They are monsters. We have to get rid of them before they do it to us."
"Look, I just want to get back to my old life. I have a family, a kid on the way, I can't be getting involved in things like these! Not on a murder charge!" Parkman protested.
"You don't have to kill anyone, Parkman. We'll do it. Just find us the man we need and we'll get you out in no time." Ted assured.
Parkman rubbed his temples, before sighing in defeat.
"Let's keep the casualties to a minimum." He relented, before I called his attention.
"I have been meaning to ask for a while now but, I hoped you would use my information to get a search warrant on Primatech. Swat raid them or something. What's with this band of brothers theme? Where's Agent Hansen?" I asked, knowing full well what happened.
"She was suspended. We were suspended, when he" Parkman pointed at Ted, ruefully, "broke out of custody. I'll probably be discharged when the suspension ends. The only reason I haven't taken him back in is because there's bigger fish to fry. But once we're done here...."
"Sure you will, Parkman. Keep on dreaming." Ted mocked.
"Are you coming with us?" He asked.
"No." I replied, "I'm no good in a fight and I've never handled a gun before. I'll only be a liability out there. You guys go in first and clear out the area. Once you're sure, call me. I'll wait by the gate."
Parkman nodded.
"I have a better idea..." Hana said, just thenas all eyes turned to her.
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