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[devoutish]

Yeah?

[That's it, that's all you get.]

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[termineur]

[ Whoops. ]

Last night, when half of the people were wandering around- he was too. He killed a little boy- his patient, I think- and another woman, the same way Jia Xu was murdered. Ecks had to kill him to get him to stop.

[devoutish]

[Oh, that.]

Yeah. Heard about that. People being fucking idiots about it over the network.

[By "people" he basically just means Peter.]

[termineur]

[ Oh good, he had heard about it. ]

He's new. [ Yeah, he means Peter, too. ] If he takes out his panic on John, though, he's going to lose friends pretty damn fast. Not that John will probably complain. I'm gonna bet he'll start blaming himself as soon as he revives.

[devoutish]

Being new is no excuse. Things were explained to him clearly.

[termineur]

If he doesn't come around in the next day or two, I'll agree with you. But it's one thing hearing about it and another thing living it.

I mean, I can't be too hard on him. I set up a whole grand plan to murder people, just so I could claim it was my own choice. It took me three years and this place to show me otherwise. He just doesn't want to admit it was luck, because then he might've killed Quark, too. Or whoever he was nearby. I get it.

But if anyone gets seriously hurt because of his denial, well. That is on him.

[devoutish]

I don't have much sympathy for the ones who think they're the special key to-- whatever it is. Breaking out, defeating mind control, yeah, any of it. The ones who think it hasn't been done only because it hasn't been tried by them.

[termineur]

[ That actually gets a chuckle out of him. ]

It's tougher to understand that you're not, when your world has been saying the exact opposite all this time. I bet that's what Peter's had going on.

I sure don't blame you for not having much sympathy, though. He has to learn this world doesn't care about him, and he's got to learn it quick. Have you run into other people that reacted like that?

[ He knows Al was, just recently- blaming himself for something none of them could stop. ]

[devoutish]

Superhoes and their ilk.

[His tone is disparaging.]

Zidane - I lit into him for it, once. But he's gone now.

[termineur]

[ Alfie can probably hear the smile in his voice. ]

It's so refreshing to hear someone talk about superheroes like that. For once. I was mostly trying to avoid 'em when I first got here- figured they'd all do more harm than good and probably try to lock me up besides, somehow. But after the...what was it? The Avengers were all gone, I didn't see too much of the grandstanding.

But yeah, we don't exactly need people swooping in and thinking they'll fix the problem, or be above it. We need people working together. It's not exactly my forte, but even I'm trying in that area.

[devoutish]

[Alfie exhales.]

Yeah. You've got a good view of it, killer or not.

[termineur]

Yeah, well.

[ Can someone sound more self-satisfied right now? Sylar doubts it. ]

As it turns out, so-called 'heroes' ruined my life before I even had a chance to ruin theirs. So I've got a unique perspective on the whole thing. Comes in handy, in a place like this.

Al doesn't get entirely stuck in that sort of useless loop, thankfully. He can be reasoned with.

[devoutish]

Yeah, he's all right. I've had a few run-ins with him, but less than with some others.

[termineur]

[ And now they've come full circle back to Al again. ]

Exactly. After that- [ He sputters for a second, as his mouth is moving a little too fast for his brain and he has no idea how to refer to the event. ] - the convert-purge thing. It was the worst I've seen him. But even then, when he heard enough evidence that it really wasn't him, and that expecting himself to be able to fight it 'somehow' wasn't fair to anyone- he figured out how to move on. He can be reached scientifically, and look at the larger picture. It's all still raw now- of course it is- but he'll be okay.

And the fact that he can stand having me around when I'm trying to help out? That makes him generally more reasonable than some people.

[devoutish]

I can respect it if they admit that it's pure emotion. Hard to help that.

I got angry with him when he offered his help - emotionally, as someone to talk to, you know. Wanted me to open up. He wouldn't let it go. I've got others to talk to, and I told him as much, but no, it had to be him.

[termineur]

Ah. Yeah, I can see that happening. He has a harder time with people who keep entirely to themselves. Figures they're not talking things out. He was right with me- I mean, at the time. I'm not having a hard time talking now, obviously. Maybe that made him feel bolder about it.

[ Because it all has to do with Gabriel somehow, right? ]

He likes helping people, but it's not his job or even helpful for him to try and help everyone. Think he gets tripped up on that sometimes.

[devoutish]

But I was not keeping entirely to myself; that's my point, yeah? It still wouldn't've been any business of his if I was, but he's got a nasty habit of assuming that if someone's not talking with him, opening up to him, accepting help from him, then they're not doing it at all. As if he's the only person in the fucking world.

[termineur]

Or the only one that can help with something. [ He's nodding, not that Alfie can see it. ] Or the only one who shouldn't fall prey to the crap that goes on here, just like Peter was thinking. Yeah. He's working on it, I think. If he does it again, let me know and I'll see if I can get him to lay off.

[ As if most of their friendship hasn't been Al telling Sylar how to properly behave. ]

He learns, though. Usually.

[devoutish]

Mm. He'd better; this is an awful place not to. Even more than most.

[termineur]

Yeah, it's not very forgiving, especially if you're putting the fate of everyone on your own shoulders. But his world didn't exactly push him any other way. Him and his brother had to do everything themselves.

Anyway, let's cross our fingers for more practical people to arrive, and less superheroes. We could use some more puzzle-solvers too. If House ever bites it for good, we're pretty screwed.

[devoutish]

House-- more Houses would be good, yeah. I don't even mind if they're fucking insufferable.

[termineur]

[ He chuckles at that. ]

I'd really prefer easier-to-work-with, but we'll see what we end up with. We really only need one person as hard to get along with as House, and we've got two. Sherlock's even worse, honestly- he just stays out of the way of most people because they don't interest him.

I used to be good at this sort of thing, myself, but this place- [ The amount of emphasis and drama on that word was way more than he intended, and he stops for a moment. ] Well, you understand how it takes bits of you, I'm sure. Don't have my ability, always in the wrong place, and now I can't keep my mind on what I want most of the time. It's infuriating.

[devoutish]

[And that Alfie gets, too.]

Always was good at keeping my head, at home. Even in the war. You point a gun at my face and I don't even blink; I was proud of that.

But here, it's different.

[termineur]

Yeah. It gets in your head, here. Literally. Messes around with things that should be untouchable. It's a different kind of horror.

At least, I assume. I've never been in a war. But I don't think anyone's been actively altering brain chemestries during one.

[devoutish]

Yeah, it's different. Worse in some ways, better than others. The scale was greater.

[termineur]

Yeah. There were a lot more people involved. Here, it feels like we're the only ones left on the planet. Might be true, might not. It's not our planet, so I guess it doesn't matter. But it feels awfully lonely, for someone from New York City. There's not even enough people here to make a crowd, even if we could all stick together.

Maybe that's a relief for some people, that less of us have to go through this.