𝐔𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐀

𝐈𝐕

The four of them found a safe place to hide. They settled down in an empty house a little north of the alley. Once inside, they all sat in the living room. It was obvious that something bad happened here; the walls had scorch marks, the tables were upturned and the sofas were ripped, the stuffing falling out freely. Sylar tried to turn on a light, but there was no power in the house.

"Okay, can someone please explain to me why you two are all buddy-buddy?" Ashleigh said, pacing the living room.

"I helped save the world." Sylar shrugged. Ashleigh gaped and looked to Peter for confirmation.

"It's true, he did. He's done a lot of good since his serial killer days. I consider him a friend." Peter explained. Ashleigh nodded. She trusted Peter, so she trusted Sylar too.

"I'm Ashleigh." She introduced herself to Sylar. He stared at her, as if figuring her out. She started to get a little nervous from the intensity of his stare and she felt her fingers start to tingle. Soon, her skin was burning, but she was not yet glowing or radiating heat. It felt more like a fever.

"I'm Sylar." Sylar finally said, breaking his stare. Ashleigh's temperature shot down and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes and say 'yeah, no shit'. Sylar turned to Peter. "Are you any closer?"

Peter shook his head dejectedly. "I don't know. I think I am, but..." he trailed off, not really sure how to say it.

"You can't feel it." Sylar finished for him, nodding in understanding.

"Utopia? Is that what you're talking about?" Ashleigh asked, hoping she was on the right page.

"Yeah." Peter said. "We have the compass, which leads us there, but we really don't know where it actually is. It could take us years to get there. I've been flying -"

"You can fly?" Ashleigh interrupted with wide, excited eyes.

Peter gave her an adorable lopsided smile and continued talking. "I've been flying everywhere so far, but since Ash joined me I haven't been able to."

Ashleigh felt a sinking feeling. She didn't want to be responsible for Peter not finding Utopia, or not finding it soon enough.

'I don't want to hold him back or put him in danger.' She thought to herself.

"You aren't." Peter smiled sweetly and touched her forearm.

"What? How did you...?"

"I can read minds." He shrugged.

'Control your thoughts. Control your thoughts. Control your thoughts Ashleigh Allegra Chase.' She thought, and mentally face-palmed when she realised she said her full name. She glared at Peter when she heard him chuckle and he mouthed to her "Francesca?" with a smirk. She just shook her head.

"So, if you guys have so many powers, why don't you use them on the Executioners? I mean, I know they're humans but don't you think they're an exception?" she asked.

"Trust me, I've tried." Peter said. "I don't know why, but my powers don't work on them. Well, not my offensive powers anyway. I can use my powers on myself, like invisibility and flight, but I can't use my powers on them, like freezing them. It just doesn't work."

"Lead bracelets." Sylar stated. "They all wear lead bracelets. That's what stops our powers from working on them."

"So I wouldn't be able to burn them?" she asked.

"No, you wouldn't." Sylar answered. The room fell silent for a moment. All of them had a million thoughts in their heads, but none were spoken aloud. The silence was broken when Peter grabbed his backpack off of his shoulders and started to look through it.

"We should probably search the house." Peter stated. "It looks like it's already been raided, but maybe there's something useful left."

Sylar and Ashleigh nodded their agreement. Sylar went to look in the kitchen. He opened up the pantry, but there was nothing inside except mouldy bread. He'd rather starve than eat that. He turned on the tap to see if there was any water; there wasn't. He opened a few of the drawers. All cutlery that could be used as a weapon was gone. He opened another drawer and found a half-empty packet of batteries. He grabbed that, thinking it could be useful.

Peter went into the bathroom. It looked like this room hadn't been raided. The mirror wasn't smashed and everything looked fine. He opened the cabinet under the sink. There was nothing useful, only a few cleaning products. Peter opened up the cabinet mirror and saw that he was wrong, the bathroom had been raided. All that was there was a packet of Band-Aids and empty medicine boxes and containers.

Ashleigh went into the first door on the left. It looked like it belonged to a little boy. There were pictures of superheroes and dinosaurs on the walls, a Toy Story bed set, and toys scattered all across the floor. She rummaged through one of the toy-boxes, unsure of what she expected to find. There was a set of walkie-talkies that caught her eye. She took them, thinking they would be useful. She saw a Ben 10 bag beside the bed and grabbed it, placing the walkie-talkies inside it. Ashleigh left the room and (literally) ran into Peter.

"Oh, sorry." She mumbled, clenching her fists by her side so she didn't start to boil.

"It's fine." He smiled and held something out for her. "Here, I found it in the other bedroom."

Ashleigh realised it was a light brown jacket. She had been wearing a pair of jeans and a singlet for god knows how long now. She took it from him gratefully and shrugged it around her shoulders.

"Thanks." She smiled. Peter smirked down at her.

"Cute bag." He pointed to the Ben 10 bag. Ashleigh glared at him.

"Shut up." She grumbled and they walked back into the living room.

"You guys find anything?" Sylar asked.

"I got a packet of Band-Aids." Peter said.

"A pair of walkie-talkies and a backpack." Ashleigh shot Peter another glare when he sniggered.

"I got batteries." Sylar held up the half a packet of batteries. Ashleigh got out the walkie talkies and turned them on. One of them worked but the other was flat.

"Could I have two batteries?" she asked and Sylar handed them to her. She put them in the flat walkie-talkie and turned it on. She passed one to Sylar and spoke into it. It worked. At least they had some form of communication, just in case.

"Come on, we should get some rest before we leave again tomorrow." Peter suggested. "Sylar?"

"Yeah?" he replied, brows furrowed.

"Are you sticking with us?" Peter asked.

Sylar hesitated, but eventually nodded. "Yeah."