didnt think youd see me here, did ya? [Gabe/open]

[maiwolf]

December 4, 2008

Riley knew Elle knew someone who knew someone who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew a guy named Brennan. Riley decided to call this guy named Brennan to take her somewhere that Elle would never let her go. It seemed for a second that even Brennan would refuse. Why did everyone dislike this place called Pinehearst? Riley didn’t care; in fact, she had other options besides Brennan. However, Mr. Sands had agreed. Now, as Riley hung onto his neck for dear life, she decided that what she had promised herself was going to be harder than she realized. What she thought and what was really happening was much too much for a fourteen-year-old to comprehend.


“So why’re you going to that vile location?” The man carrying her asked.


Riley smiled to herself because she knew the man couldn’t see her. “I promised I’d help a man who works here.”


“Hmm. Some man. He’s not that much older than you, is he?” Mr. Sands asked, craning his neck around so he could catch a glimpse of her smile.


“No, Mr. Sands. I’m not dating him.” Riley giggled as she thought about Gabriel. She doubted he’d even begin to think of her as a girlfriend. She was how many years younger? It would never work, and she didn’t think of him that way. In fact, her relationship with him was almost exclusively work-related and as a mentor—though she could add stalker to the list, seeing as she’d seen him way too much in the last weeks.


Mr. Sands sighed, and slowed down his flight. “We are now arriving at the final destination. Please stay holding onto me until I tell you to let go, else you’ll probably fall from a high height.”


Riley laughed, “I think my arms are frozen this way. You’ll have to pry them apart.”


When they landed, Riley did have to have her arms pried from his neck. He laughingly told her that next time she should take a plane if she was so afraid of heights. She jokingly answered that she wouldn’t be so afraid of heights if he wouldn’t have gone so fast. “You said you wanted to be here quickly, little lady.” Riley heard Brennan say before he put his hand up to his ear in the not-so-accurate cell-phone impression. “Call me when you want to be picked up.” Then he was away.


Riley smiled, waved at him, and then turned to face Pinehearst’s front doors. With an explosive burst of air, Riley said, “Ookay, Riley, what have you gotten yourself into?”


She had learned from one of Elle’s friends (actually, she had eavesdropped) that Gabriel now worked in Pinehearst. And that he was now being called Sylar. ‘Sylar,’ Riley humphed, ‘what a weird name. I don’t even want to know where he got that one. Oh wait, I do know.’ Gabriel had named himself after a watch.


Riley entered the front doors and walked toward the reception counter. “Hello.” She said, smiling at the lady working the counter. “Do you know where I can find Gabriel Gray? I don’t know if he’s registered here as that name; probably registered as Sylar.”


The lady shrugged her shoulders, “You’d have to ask the boss, I’m not allowed to give… a girl such controversial information.”


Riley shrugged. “Then I’m here to join Pinehearst.” Riley said, grinning.


The receptionist raised an eyebrow. “Arthur Petrelli is out right now. You cannot join without his permission.”


Riley’s grin widened, “Then I’ll wait until he comes back. He does have teleportation, right?” Riley knew the receptionist was surprised that she knew Mr. Petrelli’s powers. She knew that from Elle, too, but only a few of them. She had really had to pry those from her sister, and that was hard work in itself. The receptionist smiled, “Have a seat, Miss--?”


Riley laughed, “Riley, Riley B—Marks.” Riley wasn’t about to give away the fact that she was Elle Bishop’s younger sister. Then she went to sit down.

[General Admin]

[/ul]

[maiwolf]

Riley had only been sitting for a couple moments before an old man walked up to her. In those couple of moments Riley had tried unsuccessfully to not fidget. She knew this place was bad, for heroes rather than for villains, but she couldn’t go back on her word now, not like she would have, anyway. She considered reading a magazine, but no one else was. She would have felt awkward if she were to do so, but she felt awkward now, too.

Then the old man walked up to her. She was guessing he was Mr. Petrelli because he sounded kinda like Gabriel. She knew from eavesdropping on Elle’s conversations that Arthur Petrelli was Gabriel’s supposed father. As she looked up at the man, she could see no resemblance to Gabriel. She was actually quite shocked, and it showed on her face. However, she was not shocked because of the sight of Mr. Petrelli, but because Arthur Petrelli didn’t look how she thought he would.

Riley stumbled into a standing position. She had jumped up so quickly she stubbed her toe on the chair. She formed an ‘O’ with her mouth, uttering a silent “ow.” She said nothing else but look up at him. What was she supposed to do? Children were meant to be seen, but not heard. Or maybe that was just good children? Maybe villainous children talked a lot, ate their food like they were animals, and used their powers for bad.

Well, Riley wasn’t bad.

“Mr. Petrelli.” Riley said, deciding to talk at last. She followed Arthur Petrelli to wherever he was taking her. “I am Riley… Marks and I would like to join Pinehearst.”

[General Admin]

[/ul]

[maiwolf]

Riley didn’t want to seem like a fool, and she was trying not to look like a fool so much that she probably did look like one. However, one could not possibly look too much like a fool when following someone else, as what Riley was doing. Riley followed closely behind Arthur Petrelli, making sure not to get too much into his personal space and too much—

“Bishop!?” Riley exclaimed suddenly, walking in behind Mr. Petrelli as he turned to shut the door. Before her very eyes, Gabriel appeared, which startled Riley. Unfortunately, she wasn’t really surprised; she had known Gabriel did those things before. Gabriel walked over to a desk and flopped down in it; there is no other way to describe what the man did. Riley frowned, and stood where she was when Gabriel motioned for Riley to sit. She didn’t care if he had to mentally move her (or physically, didn’t matter) to get her to sit: she wouldn’t do it of her own free will.

Riley crossed her own arms, and stared at Gabriel. She knew perfectly well what he could do, and she relished the thought of knowing. Not many people were that fortunate, and she had something on her side: Gabriel said he wouldn’t steal her powers. She didn’t quite know if he would kill her or not, though. “Why did I really come here?” She asked rhetorically, her tone of voice matching perfectly Gabriel’s.

“I came here to join Pinehearst, Gabriel.” Riley refused to call Gabriel by his other name. Just the thought of ‘Sylar’ made her gag. Why would Riley want to call Gabriel by a watch name? “And.” She continued, walking forward and uncrossing her arms. She placed them on the back of the chair and leaned on them. “I am here to watch over you.”

Silly as that sounded, she’d promised herself she would watch Gabriel. Gabriel was like a charge that she had to keep under lock and key. No doubt he’d already killed, no doubt he’d already found a way to unlock her lock. But, also no doubt, she had already sprung another onto him. “No way are you telling me to leave, Gabriel. And no way can you keep me away from here.”

Picture this scene: a fourteen year old telling Gabriel “Sylar” Gray what she can and can’t do. Gabriel could have easily just rewritten her memory so that Riley never knew a Gabriel. But Riley knew he wouldn’t do that, no matter how tough he acted. At least, Riley hoped he’d do nothing like that. And so Riley decided the worst he could do to her (but not the worst he would do to her) was teleport her somewhere else. She liked that idea, but not if him teleporting her inadvertently dropped her in the middle of an ocean or something.

[General Admin]

[/ul]

[maiwolf]

Riley frowned, as Gabriel mentioned her sister. Riley could really care less about her sister right now, but she could probably regret it later. Elle got really mad when she got mad, and Riley knew this would be one of those things that got Elle really really mad. And yes, Gabriel did need someone to watch him, and not just this Mohinder guy that probably couldn¡¦t even tie his own shoelaces. Despite the fact that Gabriel probably couldn¡¦t ever die, she knew he would need her shield one of these days.

Gabriel got up and walked to Riley after doing a small show of his powers. Riley rolled her eyes. ¡§Pu-lease, Gabriel. I have read your file, I know exactly what you¡¦re capable of. But I¡¦ve also met you in person¡Xmore than once I might add. I know you, maybe not all of you, but I know who you can be. And you would never throw me out the window, Gabriel.¡¨ Riley was daring him, telling him to do it, to prove he wasn¡¦t who she was talking about. ¡§And I¡¦m not a child.¡¨ Riley growled, ¡§You are just saying that to get me to work for Elle¡¦s place. I don¡¦t want to work there, I want to work here, with you.¡¨ (( „² That doesn¡¦t sound weird ))

Gabriel walked behind her, and whispered crap in her ear. She knew about Arthur, too. She wasn¡¦t that stupid: she had researched before coming. Naturally, researching meant ransacking Elle¡¦s files about people. ¡§Arthur won¡¦t steal my powers if he knows what¡¦s good for him.¡¨ Riley said defensively, turning to stare Gabriel in the eye. She hoped that was true, because if not her power would be gone forever. She watched with semi-bored looking eyes as Gabriel made a fire-ball. Just because he had more powers than her didn¡¦t mean he had to flaunt them. She was getting annoyed by that. ¡§I¡¦m not going, Gabriel.¡¨ Riley said, ¡§You can throw me out of the window, you can put me on flames, you can crush me or send me through a vortex, but I¡¦m not leaving. I¡¦ve made up my mind, I¡¦m watching you.¡¨

¡§I haven¡¦t done anything like this before, Gabriel. It makes me feel special. I don¡¦t care if you don¡¦t need help.¡¨ Riley said slowly, and re-crossed her arms. ¡§You have done something horrible to me; you¡¦ve killed my father! But you know what? I forgive you for doing that. I don¡¦t expect you to forgive me, or anyone, for anything, because that doesn¡¦t seem like you. But I forgive you for killing my father, even though you shouldn¡¦t have. So here¡¦s a question: Is your father really as bad as you? You¡¦ve killed; he¡¦s stayed in the shadows. You¡¦ve continued to kill, and don¡¦t think I don¡¦t know, and he hasn¡¦t even been heard of since his death.¡¨ Riley decided to keep it at that. She knew Gabriel was getting mad at her just for being here. She actually didn¡¦t want to burn to a crisp, even if her power saved her from that.

Riley smiled, and made a funky-looking peace sign (think Misty from Pokemon), ¡§Besides, who here will have the power to back-talk you like I do?¡¨

[General Admin]

[maiwolf]

Okay, so Riley hadn’t technically read Gabriel’s entire file, but she had read enough to know that Elle would kill her if she knew Riley was hanging out around with a serial killer. However, at this point in time, Riley didn’t really care. In fact, she didn’t really care that she was in a room with a person that could easily flick his hand and send her flying out the windows. The fall wouldn’t particularly kill her; her shield would take most of the damage but she’d still end up with broken bones and a pretty nasty headache.

Riley listened to Gabriel talk about his father. Riley honestly couldn’t imagine anyone more terrifying than Gabriel because her kid-mind still thought that way. She honestly couldn’t grasp the picture of Arthur Petrelli, whose powers were more intense, more disturbing than Gabriel’s, that he could take Gabriel’s powers away with a flick of his finger. And of course he would want to take Riley’s power, what do you think she was, some sort of idiot!? Even Gabriel wanted to take Riley’s power, but he had sworn he wouldn’t, ever.

Then Riley waited nearly impatiently while Gabriel ignored her. She fidgeted, but stood in her spot, her eyes locked on the fireball. She didn’t want Gabriel to throw it at her. And then she heard them. The words. ‘Letting you join,’ and if it weren’t for her self-control, she would probably have flipped out. As it was, she didn’t even hear Gabriel’s next words because she was so worked up. She jumped in the air excitedly, a grin halfway across her face.

“So I’ll really work for you!” Riley cried out in excitement, adding another jump to the mix. “This is wonderful! Wait until I tell Elle—oh, wait, Elle would hate it. But I’ll tell her anyway.” Another jump. “Oh, Gabriel, you won’t regret it. I’ll get your coffee, your dry cleaning, anything you want. I’ll even shield you if you are getting attacked.” Riley was talking so fast her words were getting blurred. She was too excited.

Riley didn’t notice what Gabriel said about Mohinder. She knew Gabriel’s friend was Mohinder, but she’d only seen him fleetingly. In fact, she really didn’t care about Mohinder right now. “Oooooh!” Riley exclaimed, and raced over to hug Gabriel. She succeeded in hugging him, then jumped back, a smile still on her face. “You won’t regret it, Gabriel. I, Riley Bishop, will be the best coffee person you’ve ever seen, had, or will have.”

With that, Riley turned and left, running through the hallways and out the front door. She didn’t stop running until she felt tired, and then she called Brennan. After a short wait, Brennan picked her up and brought her home. She smiled the whole way, but would tell the guy nothing. She was waiting to spring her surprise on Elle.