𝐔𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐀

𝐈𝐈𝐈

Peter opened his eyes, only to be greeted with a mass of light brown curls tickling his nose. He smiled to himself and tried to leave the bed without waking Ashleigh. A sleepy moan brought his attention back to the sleeping brunette. He chuckled and shook his head at her before climbing out of the warm bed. He strolled across the van to the table where his backpack was and looked through it to see how much supplies they had left. There was a noise that froze Peter in his tracks; footsteps.

He rushed over to Ashleigh's sleeping form and gently shook her awake. She blinked a few times, looking disoriented. Suddenly, though, she was wide awake as the fear in Peter's eyes reached hers. She shot up in the bed and looked straight at Peter.

"What is it?" she asked quietly, knowing that only one thing could make him have a reaction like that, but she needed confirmation.

"Executioners." He replied, just as quiet. Ashleigh moved out of the bed, fast but quiet, and slipped her shoes back onto her feet. "We need to get out of here." He slung the backpack over his right shoulder and threw a look at Ashleigh, assessing whether or not she was good to start running again.

"I'm fine." She said, as though she read his thoughts. Peter looked as though he didn't really believe her, but right now he didn't have time to argue. He walked up to the door of the van and peeked out of it. He gestured for Ashleigh to come closer, so she did. She stood behind him as he pointed to a street just a while down the road.

"See that street?" she nodded. "I can see an alleyway there. On three, we're going to run, got that?" he asked. Again, she only nodded. "Okay. One...two -" he heard an Executioners voice and nodded at Ashleigh, who understood his unspoken message. The two of them bolted away from the caravan and into the street. Just as Peter said, there was an alleyway there. They ran past the broken windows and disposed mattresses in the alley. Peter ducked behind a big skip bin and dragged the brunette down with him. The shade from the building was clouding their shadows from view.

Peter and Ashleigh could hear them coming down the street and hoped to whatever deity was out there that they wouldn't be caught. Ashleigh's heart was beating so hard that if this were a cartoon, it would jump out of her chest. She didn't even notice that she was nearly hyperventilating from the lack of breath. Suddenly, a warm hand wrapped around hers. She looked beside her; Peter was looking back at her with a look on his face that Ashleigh couldn't decipher. She took deep breaths as Peter whispered soothing words into her ear. It started to work – her skin went from a lightly glowing orange at nearly one hundred degrees, back to her normal beige complexion and a healthy body temperature – until they heard one of the Executioners call "Down here, in the alley!"

Peter put his fingers to his lips and closed his eyes, as if concentrating really hard. If her heart was beating rapidly before, it stopped when an Executioner stopped right in front of her and Peter and looked down at them. She went to make a run for it but Peter gripped her hand tighter and put a hand over her mouth, pulling her closer to him; a non-verbal way of saying 'stay here and stay quiet'. So she did. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on Peter's thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand, instead of the big man with a large gun pointed to her head.

The one Executioner was soon joined by another two. They all had guns, Tasers and batons. They had on bullet-proof vests and their belts were stocked with bullets that looked a little strange; sort of a dull grey colour. They looked like the average GI Joe, except that they had on gas masks as well – as if they'd catch a disease from being in the same proximity of a Special.

"Where's Agent Finn?" the first Executioner asked.

"Gone to check the rest of the street, sir." The shorter of the other two replied.

"Alone?" the first one asked again. His voice had a threatening tone to it that no one missed.

"Y-yes sir." The short one stammered.

"Specials are dangerous." The leader said.

"I know sir. I'll go back Finn up." The shorter said. The leader nodded him away and the former went to leave. He stopped when he reached the end of the alleyway.

"Sir!" an unknown voice panted from running. "I found, them but they evaded me. They're in an abandoned building a few blocks away!" the unknown voice was Agent Finn. Peter and Ashleigh shared confused looks. They were right here, not 'a few blocks away'.

The leader nodded to the others for them to follow him. The first two did, but Agent Finn just told them that he'd look around a bit more. They agreed and ran off towards the building. Ashleigh was still confused as to why they didn't do anything to her and Peter, but Peter was confused to why Agent Finn led his friends on a goose-chase.

"It's okay, you can come out now." Agent Finn said, staring straight at Peter. Peter threw a wary glance at Ashleigh, and then Agent Finn. "I know you're there, Petrelli." he said the last sentence as if it were a clue. Obviously, Peter didn't get the hint, and Agent Finn sighed. "Maybe this will help." Agent Finn's body started to distort. He grew taller, his short sandy blonde hair was replaced with slicked back brown hair, and his face became less thin. He took off the gas mask and before them, stood a tall man with a large nose and thick eyebrows. Peter let out a small laugh and a sigh of relief. He stood up, pulling Ashleigh with him, still holding onto her hand.

"Okay, what just happened?" she asked, absolutely stunned.

"I made us invisible." Peter said casually.

"What? Why didn't you do that before?"

"Because it's not the most stable power I have, and it's harder to maintain with two people." he explained.

"Oh...well, thanks." She said, still processing the information.

"Sure, no thanks for the guy that saved your ass." The tall man scoffed.

"Oh, yeah sorry, thanks, um..." she trailed off, not knowing his name.

The man held out his hand and smiled. "The name's Sylar."

Ashleigh jumped back, squeezed Peter's hand and looked at him with wide eyes. "Sylar? Serial killer Sylar?"

"Reformed!" he shot Peter an annoyed looked.

"Don't worry," he said softly to Ashleigh, ignoring Sylar's look "he's on our side now."

She didn't quite know what she expected to happen next, but it definitely wasn't what did. Peter walked up to Sylar and the two shared a brotherly hug.