Title: Contingency
Rating: R
Spoilers: Everything, including .07%, all the way up to Episode 9: Return, of Incidental Heroes. Vastly AU
Pairings: Isaac/Claire, others to be determined.
Characters: Isaac, Peter, Claire, MacKenzie (IHeroes), as well as the rest of the Heroes cast.
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, It uses Incidental Heroes storylines and characters, so is arguably Crossover.
Warnings: Speculation!fic, character deaths, some underage themes.
Summary: Is destiny set in stone, immobile? Can disaster ever truly be prevented? And can a broken soul ever find salvation? Four broken heroes will do anything to make certain they can be.





Disclaimer: God. After .07%, do I NEED to tell you I don't own Heroes? That will haunt me for some time XD

AN: So. Yes, I've seen .07%, be considerate of those who haven't in your comments, however.

--

Contingency

Chapter 4

He wasn't sure how long he had sat there in silence, refusing to speak to the other man. Not that it was difficult, the other was just as silent. He was just beginning to think that he really would be spending eternity in this unorthidox hell, when he realized there was someone else standing in the room with them.

Isaac apparently noticed at the same time, as he heard a sound of alarm as he jumped up from where he was sitting, grabbing a goblet from the round table next to his chair. "Who are you?"

She sighed softly, and shook her head. It occurred to Peter that she didn't look like any sort of angelic messenger. She was slim and well built, with dark brown hair that fell around her shoulders, and wore...a hospital gown.

Was she a new 'visitor'?

"Listen to me." Her voice was faint, remniscent of ghosts from classic movies.

"Who are you?" Isaac echoed his original question, voice suspicious.

She smiled, the expression never making it past her lips. "You wouldn't know me. I was...I was sent here to help you, to save you from yourselves."

"Who sent you?" Peter frowned.

"It doesn't matter."

He sighed in exasperation, glancing over to see a twin look of frustration on Isaac's face.

She walked forward, looking around the room slowly, speaking softly in tones he couldn't make out, before looking back at him with a stronger expression on her face. "You both want to save New York, you both loved Simone, why are you fighting."

He glared in annoyance, but Isaac spoke his thoughts before he could.

"I don't know what storybook world you crawled out of, but those traits do not usually equal friendship."

She was the one to sigh in exasperation this time. "If you don't quit being unreasonable, you're both going to die, and there will be no one to stop the bomb!"

He shook his head. "If you knew anything, you'd know how wrong that statement is."

"You tell me, Peter." She said, looking over at him. "If nothing else, do you want Sylar to be able to paint the future? To know what you're going to do before you do? To find your brother?"

He didn't baulk outwardly. She clearly knew more than she looked like she would--whoever or whatever she was.

She glanced behind herself a moment, before looking back at him. "I don't have long...remember yourself, Peter, remember who you used to be. Don't let yourself go down the same path your brother is heading."

"Nathan--"

"If you follow him down that path, who will be there to show him the right way when he finally looks for help?"

And then, just like that, she was gone.

--

Her father and grandmother had left the room, arguing in a nearby office. She had lost count of the time she had spent just holding and crying over her uncle. It felt like her tears were gone, but she couldn't leave him, there wasn't anywhere else to go for her anymore...

"Peter..." She sighed softly. "I just wanted to see you...you were supposed to be my hero...you...you were supposed to be like me.."

She shook her head. "Why?"

She frowned, looking over his form. Blood streaked across his forehead, remniscent of many of her old wounds. He had to have regenerated it, so why...? Why?

A glint under his head caught her eye, and she gingerly turned his head to examine his hair. To her surprise, she saw a bit of...what looked like glass. Why was there glass...in...she felt slightly queasy at the sight, despite the amount of injuries she had dealt with recently. Perhaps because it wasn't hers

It was almost instinct by now to pluck out all the bits of things she found in herself at random times, so she did not stop to think about what to do with the shard before reaching over and yanking it out.

The harsh coughing gasp that followed a moment later, nearly stopped her heart in her chest.

"You're alive!"

--

Peter paced back and forth in the small room, sighing perhaps a bit too often. His mother and brother were talking in another room, and Claire was in the room that had been assigned to her, last he looked.

He couldn't remember everything from that strange almost-death experience anymore, only snatches of the argument, and only a vague impression of what the strange woman had looked like. But he still remembered what she had said.

He glanced down at the picture in his hands once again. A picture of he and his brother in his brother's wedding day. Nathan was happy that day, they were brothers, like brothers should be. Nathan teased him about never finding a girlfriend.

He closed his eyes, squeezing the photo unconsciously.

Wasn't he too late to do anything for Isaac, anyway? It seemed like from the conversation he was...

And yet, she wouldn't have said he could save him if he couldn't would she? Would she?

A crash from the other room drew his attention from his reverie.

The picture clattered to the floor.

"Well, isn't this providence?" The dark-clad figure took a step away from the shocked-looking man who was currently pinned to the explosive mural. Brushes impaled the man's wrists and ankles, but he seemed fully conscious still. Apparently he had not delivered the last blow after all.

"You." Peter growled, recovering from his immediate shock.

The man smiled smugly. "Me."

CH End

---

AN: Shorter chapter this time, but chapter 5 should be longer. And I haven't forgotten about MacKenzie or Isaac's POVs!