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Title: Black Edelweiss
Series: Zeitgeist
Follows: One Giant Leap
Wordcount: 3,671
Summary: Two weeks after Claire Bennet's televised leap from the Ferris wheel, the 12th handles it's first case delving into the strange world of specials. Evidence points the investigation toward a former Company Agent, a man Noah Bennet would swear up and down doesn't exist.
Details: Minimal details due to inflation. Full details in main post.
Author's Note: A lot of "exposition" (i.e. info-dump) in this chapter. My apologies in advance. Very Heroes heavy, where the other chapters focus more on Castle. Hopefully some of it will help any Castle fans who haven't seen Heroes.
PREV: Interlude 1 // MAIN // NEXT: Interlude 2
Chapter Four: Phantom Strangers
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
—George Orwell, 1984
As they pulled up in front of a large, opulent house located on the Upper East Side, Richard Castle was on the edge of his seat with excitement. It wasn't every day he was initiated into a real-life conspiracy, after all, and this one had everything he could have possibly hoped for.
Though the woman who greeted them at the ornate security door wasn't quite what he had expected—and "greeted" was too strong a word by half.
Angela Petrelli, the last surviving founder of Primatech, was a slight woman in her mid-sixties. She was dressed in dark colors that suited her own coloration supremely well, her dark hair twisted up tidily atop her head. Her eyes were also dark, and while they met Bennet with a degree of fondness, any warmth Castle might have seen was quickly shuttered as she took in his companions. She regarded the writer himself somewhat frostily, briefly, as though he'd been noted and dismissed. When she saw Beckett, though, her eyes widened—just very slightly—and she quickly swept a second look as though she thought she were mistaken. Though she remained composed, he saw her eyes cut to Bennet. Whatever question was in them, the man's answer was the barest tilt of his head. All in the space of a few seconds, and then she blinked and it was almost as though the exchange had never happened.
Castle couldn't begin to interpret what it might have meant, but he filed it away for later. For all he knew, there was telepathy going on here right under their noses...
"It's good to see you, Noah," she said, thin lips pulling in a slight smile, gesturing them into the foyer. "We've had few enough opportunities to speak over this past year. With everything that's happened these last two weeks alone, I find I'm not optimistic about the coming year, either."
"It's been a circus," Bennet confirmed—apparently without irony. Castle noted that her words seemed to cast a solemn concern over his already stoney demeanor.
"It's only bound to get worse, of course," Angela observed acutely as she closed the door behind them. "As I'm certain you'll prove once you introduce your guests and explain their reasons for accompanying you on your visit."
"Of course," Bennet said, lips drawing in an apologetic smile.
"This is Detective Kate Beckett with NYPD and..." He hesitated with faint uncertainty before he settled on an appropriate word, "her colleague Richard Castle. Detective Beckett and her team are investigating the first confirmed specials-involved murder since Samuel's capture."
"I see," Angela said, her head inclined slightly in understanding. She seemed oddly unsurprised. "Perhaps we should sit, then. This may be a long conversation."
She turned around, heading for an open room off to the side of the foyer.
"Now," she asked mildly as they settled into the sitting room. "How does this concern me?"
While he had heard that question from any number of witnesses in his time shadowing Kate and the guys, Castle thought the manner in which she asked it was unusual. Normally, when people were question in connection to a murder, they tried to manufacture distance between themselves and the crime. Angela didn't seem to doubt that she was involved, simply unsure yet as to how. He speculated that her familiarity with Bennet's habits might be the reason, but somehow that didn't quite fit either.
"The victim's name was Jonas Zimmerman," Kate supplied, in answer. "His body was discovered this morning in an empty building in Chelsea. Mr. Bennet explained to us on the way here that the crime scene was part of your company's holdings. We've been told he used to work for you. Is that true?"
Angela raised an inquiring eyebrow at Bennet.
"I felt it was necessary that Detective Beckett and her team be read-in on the Company's past existence and it's goals," Bennet explained. Though he appeared uncertain of her reaction, Angela seemed to accept his judgment and gave a slight nod.
"Dr. Zimmerman was a key figure in Primatech's research division for more than thirty years," Angela said softly with a faint, joyless smile. Castle got the distinct impression Angela would not be amongst Zimmerman's mourners. "And I assume you mean the building on Reed Street. Yes. It was our first headquarters when we began operation, back in 1963."
"I wasn't aware he was back in New York," she added off-handly. "I trust someone has informed his daughter."
"We're still trying to locate Barbara," Kate said, hedging flawlessly. "I know that it's been almost twenty years since Zimmerman was employed by Primatech, but do you recall friction between him and a man named Konrad Reichardt?"
Angela stilled at the sound of the name, looking down into her lap for a brief moment. Almost like a nod. Castle thought the reaction was strange... As if she'd been expecting to hear the name all along.
"That's a name I haven't heard in a long time," Angela said with a smile—faint, but it felt genuine. "You know, I dreamed about Konrad only the other night..."
This time it was Bennet's turn to react peculiarly. Again it was subtle, but her words drew his full attention.
"You know of him, then?" Bennet asked her, intent on her answer.
"Yes," Angela said, looking into Bennet's eyes. "As did you, Noah, at one time."
Bennet, though plainly ill at ease with the missing information, did not seem surprised by the notion. In fact, he relaxed very slightly, and Castle thought that perhaps she had just confirmed something he already suspected.
"Konrad Reichardt joined the Company five years after it was founded," Angela told them, "though his involvement goes earlier than that. He was present at the riot in Greenwich Village, at a bar called Uncle Ira's when the core founders—Deveaux, Linderman, Bishop, and I—first met Kaito Nakamura. And, for better or worse, Konrad was the one who first introduced us to Adam Monroe."
She paused, frowning, her eyes somewhat distant in unhappy memory. Bennet seemed vaguely disturbed himself. The names, of course meant nothing to Beckett or himself, but Castle tucked them away mentally for later.
"He recruited and trained Ivan Spektor and Eric Thompson," Angela continued, "and Konrad and Thompson were the agents who first established the Company's time-tested standard."
"Standard?" Castle asked, finally injecting himself into the conversation. He filed away that name, too...in a mental folder with large red underlined letters. Because seriously, Ivan Spektor sounded like the name of a Bond villain.
"Company agents were always paired with an opposite," Bennet answered him, hesitantly. Castle thought he seemed haunted by the specter of Ivan's name. "One partner with an ability, and one without. 'One of us, one of them.'"
"Which is which?" Castle asked. He never got an answer, though, before Kate shot him a pointed look.
"Can we stay on topic please?" Kate asked.
Castle lifted his hand as he backed off—figuratively, as he remained sitting next to her.
"If he was so instrumental," Bennet asked, then, "why don't I remember this man?"
Again, Castle thought, Bennet seemed more concerned with the "why" than the "how". Though if, as Bennet claimed, he had really been involved with specials for twenty years, Castle supposed he might already be well acquainted with the "how".
Before she answered, Angela looked down at her hands, which were folded on her lap. She wasn't a woman to let her emotions reign outwardly, Castle already knew that much. He felt the topic must then be the subject of some pain.
"Konrad was the first special known to the Company who displayed the ability to copy the powers of others he'd met," she said. "However, unlike...others we've observed since then, his acquisitions were erratic. Which abilities he would absorb and which he did not were seemingly random. It wasn't until Zimmerman was recruited in 1969 that any connection was made to his emotions."
"And empathic mimic," Bennet observed, thoughtfully.
Bennet was difficult to read, but Castle thought that whatever the phrase meant, the man hadn't liked the sound of it. Though it was merely a guess at this point, Castle thought he understood why. The world at large didn't know much about what specials were truly capable of. So far, only Bennet's daughter and the members of Sullivan's Carnival had stepped out into the spotlight. Desperate to escape the shadow of Samuel's crimes, the latter had put themselves back on display, demonstrating their abilities in hopes of securing the understanding of a curious public. Castle had attended the performance twice. From what he had been able to discover in his enthusiastic research, each special only had one ability. If he understood Angela correctly, that someone's ability might allow them to gain other abilities...
Well, that just seemed unfair—like wishing for more wishes.
"Yes," Angela confirmed, solemnly, "but a rather broken one. Empaths of any kind tend to be very open, sensitive people. Konrad was very different. Closed off. He'd erected several barriers of dissociation during his time at the work camp at Auschwitz. It made it difficult to form the personal connections which allow any form of empathic ability to function. As a result, his ability was more or less crippled, and he was only able to copy the abilities from a very few of the specials he encountered."
"That makes sense," Kate reasoned sympathetically. "Something as traumatic as being imprisoned in one of those places... You'd have to shut off parts of yourself just to survive."
"I would agree that he was traumatized, Detective," Angela said, gravely. "When his abilities were discovered, he fell under Dr. Mengele's clinical scrutiny, and the experiences left him scarred mentally, if not physically. But Konrad wasn't a prisoner at Auschwitz, I'm afraid. He was a guard."
"Shut the front door!"
Angela and Bennet both shot him a cross look at the outburst, and Kate also looked annoyed.
"Sorry," Castle said, more quietly than was needed. He sat back, listening, trying to reign in his excitement. It was like his birthday had come early this year.
Kate sighed and turned her attention back to Angela.
"You were going to explain why Bennet doesn't remember him," Kate reminded.
"In the early '80s," Angela continued, "we had a case of a special whose ability seemed at first to be some kind of memory erasure. People were coming into contact with this individual, with incidents of burglary and assault reported to the authorities, but the victims soon began to lose their recollection of the crimes. Konrad and his partner, Haram, went to investigate this special, who at the time was nicknamed the Ghost. It took the pair several months of chasing, encounters and near-misses, before they finally caught up with a man in his late thirties. No one knows his name, however, because he was not taken alive."
She paused, releasing a breath, shoulders dipping from the weight of the memory.
"The rest I know both because I read the report and because it was discussed by others within the Company afterward. Later, Konrad and I wrote one another or spoke over the phone, but... I have no first-hand memories of him after that case."
"He absorbed the Ghost's ability," Castle realized swiftly.
"Yes," Angela confirmed. "The ability was eventually classified as 'memory nullification'. It acts on the minds of those around the subject, preventing the formation of long-term memories of the special or their actions. It took Konrad nearly a year to get it under any kind of control, and he was unable to get the ability to shut off entirely. The best he could manage was to lengthen the window of time that memories of him could be retained. Those who met Konrad Reichardt prior to that case kept all of their earlier memories, but if more than a few months went by between their interactions with him, any new memories of him would slowly begin to fade."
"I can't even begin to imagine..." Castle said, stunned. "Having people slowly forget they ever knew you. I mean, it literally sounds like a nightmare."
Angela regarded him coolly, but gave a slight nod, any ruffled feathers seeming smoothed now that he was taking things seriously.
"But the files should still exist," Kate ventured, hopefully. Castle could tell she was desperate for something concrete. Castle's trade was in stories, after all, but Kate's job required something she could see.
Angela tipped her head slightly in thought.
"I'll have to get in touch with Hiro Nakamura," she said finally. "Konrad was a dear friend of his father, and eleven years ago, when Konrad decided to leave the Company, we agreed that his secrets were Kaito's to keep. We removed the files from Primatech and, with a little cleaning up around the edges, after a few months, to all but a few it was as though he'd never existed. If the information exists to help you find him—if he's still out there to be found—it'll be at Yamagato."
They had other questions, of course, but none of the answers seemed ready to bear immediate fruit. Kate took down the details they had gleaned, throughout. Once they were prepared to go, Bennet stopped before they were out door.
"I'll meet you out in the car," he told Kate. "The case interrupted what was meant to be a personal visit, and I'd like a moment to speak with Angela alone. I'll try to keep it brief."
Kate seemed wary, but was apparently unable to come up with an excuse to insist they do otherwise. Once they reached the car where it was parked, Kate looked at Castle with a faint smile.
"Okay, Castle, let me have it."
If she was expecting an "I told you so", they were so on the wrong page. His face split in a grin, and for a moment he was at a loss for words. He honestly thought he might cry. He threw out his arms, as though he might hug the universe and tell it 'Thank you'.
"It's just so... I mean, really, it is. Right?" Castle looked at Kate expectantly and saw her roll her eyes, though the smile widened briefly. "Superpowers, conspiracies...Nazis? I know it's still a murder, Kate, but this is officially the best case ever."
(—
=)
As soon as the detective and her companion were out the door, Angela turned to Noah with a curious smile.
"Detective Beckett bears a striking resemblance to your old partner, Hana Gitelman," she observed. "Wouldn't you agree, Noah?"
Noah had been expecting this question. That resemblance had baffled him as well, though he had managed not to show it at the station. Honestly, he wished he had an answer for it.
"I have Micah looking into the backgrounds of the Homicide team," he told her. "He and Wireless had a few interactions. If there's a connection between her and Beckett, I'm sure he'll find it."
Angela nodded approvingly, and seemed to put the topic from her mind for now.
"You said you'd had a dream," Noah reminded, watching her carefully.
He could tell from her solemn reaction to that it had indeed been that kind of dream.
"This case," he ventured, once he was sure. "This is why you said I needed to be in New York."
"Yes," she answered softly, her eyes far off.
"I wasn't sure what it meant when I saw Konrad after so many years, but now I know it was about this case..." Angela told him. "In my dream he was in chains. Whether that means he's guilty of Zimmerman's murder or that he's in danger, I don't know. "
Angela looked at him then, gaze filled with a piercing determination.
"Either way," she said, "you must find him. He was an integral part of our history, Noah. And I know he's going to be just as essential to our future."
She paused, recomposing herself. Calmer as she looked up at him, she went on.
"That was only a small part of my dream, however," she told him, then, her voice sharp. "Most of it concerned you, Noah. It was a dream about the organization you're hoping to create, the one that will take the Company's place."
That drew his focus immediately. Noah had a duty to protect his daughter, and no rash action on Claire's part would ever change that. She might have forced things when she had chosen to reveal her ability in front of all of those cameras, but Noah refused to believe it had taken things out of his hands entirely. It had simply forced to him to alter his tactics.
Despite his misgivings, it was actually proving to be a rather liberating challenge. Where before, with the Company and later the government's project at Building 26, he had been forced to maintain secrecy, now he was forced to use the unwanted attention itself as a tool. The whole world wanted to know about Claire Bennet, and by extension, her family. He was more than capable of putting on the appropriate act, projecting the image of an unassuming salesman and father—after all, hadn't he he'd fooled his own family for years? The media had gleefully latched onto the story of secret struggles, all in the name of keeping his family safe. It was surreal becoming a household name after so many years as a phantom, but the benefits of the intrusion were well worth it.
The President, meanwhile, had found himself in the position of handling the uncertain climate following what many were considering the single most world-altering discovery since nuclear technology.
Thankfully, for all Senator Nathan Petrelli's homeland security project had turned out an utter disaster, Noah's record of service at Building 26 had not been forgotten. Neither, of course, had his role in preventing the President's assassination. Immediately after the assassination attempt, there had been the promise of funding for a new Company, and plans that Noah would be at it's head. Unfortunately, securing that funding had taken longer to arrange. He had allowed himself to become distracted—by Claire's start Georgetown, by his marriage to Sandra falling apart. He had found himself juggling Tracy's rampage, and Hiro's illness, Jeremy Greer and the fallout of Nathan's death.
And by the time they were forced to deal with Samuel Sullivan, they were already set on a collision course with another destiny entirely...
While the President clearly had some faith in him, the FBI director unfortunately saw things differently. He had made it clear to Noah on more than one occasion that illegal vigilante organizations like the Company were little better in his esteem than the mob. And while he retained his promised position at the head of everything, "everything" unfortunately consisted of remarkably little: a small grouping of offices under the thumb of the FBI, a painfully small bankroll under tight scrutiny, a handful of uncatalogued Company documents, and a team that at this point consisted only of Tracy Strauss, her nephew, and himself...
Still, in the past he had made do with much less, he reminded himself, recalling almost fondly his time in Costa Verde. Living in hiding with his family as Noah Butler hadn't been the high point of his life, but he had managed to wage war against the Company itself while living as a manager of a Copy Kingdom. Angela had once called him "the man with the plan", and while during his dark tenure at Building 26 Noah hadn't felt he was up to the challenge, he now found himself rising to the occasion.
Baby steps, Noah thought to himself, recalling Detective Esposito's words almost smugly, and entirely without the man's sarcasm.
And so, as she outlined her dream of the future, Angela commanded his full and complete attention.
"In this dream, I caught glimpses of the men and women who will play a part in your organization," Angela said. "Their faces were photographs on a string web, the type I've seen made to map time. Konrad's face was among them, as were Suresh, and Matt Parkman. Most of the others were unfamiliar, however. You stood at the center of the web with a dark complected man I've never seen before. He was shaking your hand, though his expression was far from friendly.
"He is the man who holds all the strings, Noah," Angela told him carefully, "whether he knows it yet or not, and without him your organization can never be. I don't know how it ties in with Konrad or Zimmerman's murder, only that this case will make your fledgeling agency—or destroy it before it can ever be born."
She paused, considering.
"Normally, I might advise discretion," Angela said finally, "but in the immediate future, I believe trust will be far more valuable than secrets."
Noah nodded faintly as he absorbed the information and her advice. That last was a call he had already made. He frowned, thinking back on his meeting with the detectives at the 12th, and about Javier Esposito in particular. The man had struck him as incredibly hostile, and while he hadn't seen enough to get a proper measure of him, Noah had thought it was oddly unprofessional. Looking back, he thought the reactions of those who did know him seemed to support his hunch that the behavior was unusual. And then there had been his unexpected knowledge of Noah's past employment...
It looked as though there was a lot about the detective that didn't add up.
"I might know the man you're speaking of," Noah said thoughtfully, almost certain now that Esposito was the man Angela had seen. Now that he had an inkling of the man's importance, Noah intended to pay close attention, and look into it more closely when the opportunity arose. "Was there anything else?"
Angela hesitated, her shoulders tense. Her mouth was pressed in a bitter line.
"One other image jumped out at me in the course of the dream. A watch," she emphasized, pausing significantly. "You know the one I mean."
Noah tensed, fists clenching at his sides before he was even conscious of the reaction.
"Sylar," he managed, jaw clenching when Angela nodded.
"In the dream, the broken watch had been repaired," Angela said, unable to keep a skeptical sneer out of her voice. "I know Peter likes to think he's tamed the beast, but... Please, Noah. Be careful."
PREV: Interlude 1 // MAIN // NEXT: Interlude 2
Author's Note: Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lornrocks for inspiring the idea about the Carnival's fate.
Series: Zeitgeist
Follows: One Giant Leap
Wordcount: 3,671
Summary: Two weeks after Claire Bennet's televised leap from the Ferris wheel, the 12th handles it's first case delving into the strange world of specials. Evidence points the investigation toward a former Company Agent, a man Noah Bennet would swear up and down doesn't exist.
Details: Minimal details due to inflation. Full details in main post.
Author's Note: A lot of "exposition" (i.e. info-dump) in this chapter. My apologies in advance. Very Heroes heavy, where the other chapters focus more on Castle. Hopefully some of it will help any Castle fans who haven't seen Heroes.
PREV: Interlude 1 // MAIN // NEXT: Interlude 2
Chapter Four: Phantom Strangers
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
—George Orwell, 1984
As they pulled up in front of a large, opulent house located on the Upper East Side, Richard Castle was on the edge of his seat with excitement. It wasn't every day he was initiated into a real-life conspiracy, after all, and this one had everything he could have possibly hoped for.
Though the woman who greeted them at the ornate security door wasn't quite what he had expected—and "greeted" was too strong a word by half.
Angela Petrelli, the last surviving founder of Primatech, was a slight woman in her mid-sixties. She was dressed in dark colors that suited her own coloration supremely well, her dark hair twisted up tidily atop her head. Her eyes were also dark, and while they met Bennet with a degree of fondness, any warmth Castle might have seen was quickly shuttered as she took in his companions. She regarded the writer himself somewhat frostily, briefly, as though he'd been noted and dismissed. When she saw Beckett, though, her eyes widened—just very slightly—and she quickly swept a second look as though she thought she were mistaken. Though she remained composed, he saw her eyes cut to Bennet. Whatever question was in them, the man's answer was the barest tilt of his head. All in the space of a few seconds, and then she blinked and it was almost as though the exchange had never happened.
Castle couldn't begin to interpret what it might have meant, but he filed it away for later. For all he knew, there was telepathy going on here right under their noses...
"It's good to see you, Noah," she said, thin lips pulling in a slight smile, gesturing them into the foyer. "We've had few enough opportunities to speak over this past year. With everything that's happened these last two weeks alone, I find I'm not optimistic about the coming year, either."
"It's been a circus," Bennet confirmed—apparently without irony. Castle noted that her words seemed to cast a solemn concern over his already stoney demeanor.
"It's only bound to get worse, of course," Angela observed acutely as she closed the door behind them. "As I'm certain you'll prove once you introduce your guests and explain their reasons for accompanying you on your visit."
"Of course," Bennet said, lips drawing in an apologetic smile.
"This is Detective Kate Beckett with NYPD and..." He hesitated with faint uncertainty before he settled on an appropriate word, "her colleague Richard Castle. Detective Beckett and her team are investigating the first confirmed specials-involved murder since Samuel's capture."
"I see," Angela said, her head inclined slightly in understanding. She seemed oddly unsurprised. "Perhaps we should sit, then. This may be a long conversation."
She turned around, heading for an open room off to the side of the foyer.
"Now," she asked mildly as they settled into the sitting room. "How does this concern me?"
While he had heard that question from any number of witnesses in his time shadowing Kate and the guys, Castle thought the manner in which she asked it was unusual. Normally, when people were question in connection to a murder, they tried to manufacture distance between themselves and the crime. Angela didn't seem to doubt that she was involved, simply unsure yet as to how. He speculated that her familiarity with Bennet's habits might be the reason, but somehow that didn't quite fit either.
"The victim's name was Jonas Zimmerman," Kate supplied, in answer. "His body was discovered this morning in an empty building in Chelsea. Mr. Bennet explained to us on the way here that the crime scene was part of your company's holdings. We've been told he used to work for you. Is that true?"
Angela raised an inquiring eyebrow at Bennet.
"I felt it was necessary that Detective Beckett and her team be read-in on the Company's past existence and it's goals," Bennet explained. Though he appeared uncertain of her reaction, Angela seemed to accept his judgment and gave a slight nod.
"Dr. Zimmerman was a key figure in Primatech's research division for more than thirty years," Angela said softly with a faint, joyless smile. Castle got the distinct impression Angela would not be amongst Zimmerman's mourners. "And I assume you mean the building on Reed Street. Yes. It was our first headquarters when we began operation, back in 1963."
"I wasn't aware he was back in New York," she added off-handly. "I trust someone has informed his daughter."
"We're still trying to locate Barbara," Kate said, hedging flawlessly. "I know that it's been almost twenty years since Zimmerman was employed by Primatech, but do you recall friction between him and a man named Konrad Reichardt?"
Angela stilled at the sound of the name, looking down into her lap for a brief moment. Almost like a nod. Castle thought the reaction was strange... As if she'd been expecting to hear the name all along.
"That's a name I haven't heard in a long time," Angela said with a smile—faint, but it felt genuine. "You know, I dreamed about Konrad only the other night..."
This time it was Bennet's turn to react peculiarly. Again it was subtle, but her words drew his full attention.
"You know of him, then?" Bennet asked her, intent on her answer.
"Yes," Angela said, looking into Bennet's eyes. "As did you, Noah, at one time."
Bennet, though plainly ill at ease with the missing information, did not seem surprised by the notion. In fact, he relaxed very slightly, and Castle thought that perhaps she had just confirmed something he already suspected.
"Konrad Reichardt joined the Company five years after it was founded," Angela told them, "though his involvement goes earlier than that. He was present at the riot in Greenwich Village, at a bar called Uncle Ira's when the core founders—Deveaux, Linderman, Bishop, and I—first met Kaito Nakamura. And, for better or worse, Konrad was the one who first introduced us to Adam Monroe."
She paused, frowning, her eyes somewhat distant in unhappy memory. Bennet seemed vaguely disturbed himself. The names, of course meant nothing to Beckett or himself, but Castle tucked them away mentally for later.
"He recruited and trained Ivan Spektor and Eric Thompson," Angela continued, "and Konrad and Thompson were the agents who first established the Company's time-tested standard."
"Standard?" Castle asked, finally injecting himself into the conversation. He filed away that name, too...in a mental folder with large red underlined letters. Because seriously, Ivan Spektor sounded like the name of a Bond villain.
"Company agents were always paired with an opposite," Bennet answered him, hesitantly. Castle thought he seemed haunted by the specter of Ivan's name. "One partner with an ability, and one without. 'One of us, one of them.'"
"Which is which?" Castle asked. He never got an answer, though, before Kate shot him a pointed look.
"Can we stay on topic please?" Kate asked.
Castle lifted his hand as he backed off—figuratively, as he remained sitting next to her.
"If he was so instrumental," Bennet asked, then, "why don't I remember this man?"
Again, Castle thought, Bennet seemed more concerned with the "why" than the "how". Though if, as Bennet claimed, he had really been involved with specials for twenty years, Castle supposed he might already be well acquainted with the "how".
Before she answered, Angela looked down at her hands, which were folded on her lap. She wasn't a woman to let her emotions reign outwardly, Castle already knew that much. He felt the topic must then be the subject of some pain.
"Konrad was the first special known to the Company who displayed the ability to copy the powers of others he'd met," she said. "However, unlike...others we've observed since then, his acquisitions were erratic. Which abilities he would absorb and which he did not were seemingly random. It wasn't until Zimmerman was recruited in 1969 that any connection was made to his emotions."
"And empathic mimic," Bennet observed, thoughtfully.
Bennet was difficult to read, but Castle thought that whatever the phrase meant, the man hadn't liked the sound of it. Though it was merely a guess at this point, Castle thought he understood why. The world at large didn't know much about what specials were truly capable of. So far, only Bennet's daughter and the members of Sullivan's Carnival had stepped out into the spotlight. Desperate to escape the shadow of Samuel's crimes, the latter had put themselves back on display, demonstrating their abilities in hopes of securing the understanding of a curious public. Castle had attended the performance twice. From what he had been able to discover in his enthusiastic research, each special only had one ability. If he understood Angela correctly, that someone's ability might allow them to gain other abilities...
Well, that just seemed unfair—like wishing for more wishes.
"Yes," Angela confirmed, solemnly, "but a rather broken one. Empaths of any kind tend to be very open, sensitive people. Konrad was very different. Closed off. He'd erected several barriers of dissociation during his time at the work camp at Auschwitz. It made it difficult to form the personal connections which allow any form of empathic ability to function. As a result, his ability was more or less crippled, and he was only able to copy the abilities from a very few of the specials he encountered."
"That makes sense," Kate reasoned sympathetically. "Something as traumatic as being imprisoned in one of those places... You'd have to shut off parts of yourself just to survive."
"I would agree that he was traumatized, Detective," Angela said, gravely. "When his abilities were discovered, he fell under Dr. Mengele's clinical scrutiny, and the experiences left him scarred mentally, if not physically. But Konrad wasn't a prisoner at Auschwitz, I'm afraid. He was a guard."
"Shut the front door!"
Angela and Bennet both shot him a cross look at the outburst, and Kate also looked annoyed.
"Sorry," Castle said, more quietly than was needed. He sat back, listening, trying to reign in his excitement. It was like his birthday had come early this year.
Kate sighed and turned her attention back to Angela.
"You were going to explain why Bennet doesn't remember him," Kate reminded.
"In the early '80s," Angela continued, "we had a case of a special whose ability seemed at first to be some kind of memory erasure. People were coming into contact with this individual, with incidents of burglary and assault reported to the authorities, but the victims soon began to lose their recollection of the crimes. Konrad and his partner, Haram, went to investigate this special, who at the time was nicknamed the Ghost. It took the pair several months of chasing, encounters and near-misses, before they finally caught up with a man in his late thirties. No one knows his name, however, because he was not taken alive."
She paused, releasing a breath, shoulders dipping from the weight of the memory.
"The rest I know both because I read the report and because it was discussed by others within the Company afterward. Later, Konrad and I wrote one another or spoke over the phone, but... I have no first-hand memories of him after that case."
"He absorbed the Ghost's ability," Castle realized swiftly.
"Yes," Angela confirmed. "The ability was eventually classified as 'memory nullification'. It acts on the minds of those around the subject, preventing the formation of long-term memories of the special or their actions. It took Konrad nearly a year to get it under any kind of control, and he was unable to get the ability to shut off entirely. The best he could manage was to lengthen the window of time that memories of him could be retained. Those who met Konrad Reichardt prior to that case kept all of their earlier memories, but if more than a few months went by between their interactions with him, any new memories of him would slowly begin to fade."
"I can't even begin to imagine..." Castle said, stunned. "Having people slowly forget they ever knew you. I mean, it literally sounds like a nightmare."
Angela regarded him coolly, but gave a slight nod, any ruffled feathers seeming smoothed now that he was taking things seriously.
"But the files should still exist," Kate ventured, hopefully. Castle could tell she was desperate for something concrete. Castle's trade was in stories, after all, but Kate's job required something she could see.
Angela tipped her head slightly in thought.
"I'll have to get in touch with Hiro Nakamura," she said finally. "Konrad was a dear friend of his father, and eleven years ago, when Konrad decided to leave the Company, we agreed that his secrets were Kaito's to keep. We removed the files from Primatech and, with a little cleaning up around the edges, after a few months, to all but a few it was as though he'd never existed. If the information exists to help you find him—if he's still out there to be found—it'll be at Yamagato."
They had other questions, of course, but none of the answers seemed ready to bear immediate fruit. Kate took down the details they had gleaned, throughout. Once they were prepared to go, Bennet stopped before they were out door.
"I'll meet you out in the car," he told Kate. "The case interrupted what was meant to be a personal visit, and I'd like a moment to speak with Angela alone. I'll try to keep it brief."
Kate seemed wary, but was apparently unable to come up with an excuse to insist they do otherwise. Once they reached the car where it was parked, Kate looked at Castle with a faint smile.
"Okay, Castle, let me have it."
If she was expecting an "I told you so", they were so on the wrong page. His face split in a grin, and for a moment he was at a loss for words. He honestly thought he might cry. He threw out his arms, as though he might hug the universe and tell it 'Thank you'.
"It's just so... I mean, really, it is. Right?" Castle looked at Kate expectantly and saw her roll her eyes, though the smile widened briefly. "Superpowers, conspiracies...Nazis? I know it's still a murder, Kate, but this is officially the best case ever."
(—
=)
As soon as the detective and her companion were out the door, Angela turned to Noah with a curious smile.
"Detective Beckett bears a striking resemblance to your old partner, Hana Gitelman," she observed. "Wouldn't you agree, Noah?"
Noah had been expecting this question. That resemblance had baffled him as well, though he had managed not to show it at the station. Honestly, he wished he had an answer for it.
"I have Micah looking into the backgrounds of the Homicide team," he told her. "He and Wireless had a few interactions. If there's a connection between her and Beckett, I'm sure he'll find it."
Angela nodded approvingly, and seemed to put the topic from her mind for now.
"You said you'd had a dream," Noah reminded, watching her carefully.
He could tell from her solemn reaction to that it had indeed been that kind of dream.
"This case," he ventured, once he was sure. "This is why you said I needed to be in New York."
"Yes," she answered softly, her eyes far off.
"I wasn't sure what it meant when I saw Konrad after so many years, but now I know it was about this case..." Angela told him. "In my dream he was in chains. Whether that means he's guilty of Zimmerman's murder or that he's in danger, I don't know. "
Angela looked at him then, gaze filled with a piercing determination.
"Either way," she said, "you must find him. He was an integral part of our history, Noah. And I know he's going to be just as essential to our future."
She paused, recomposing herself. Calmer as she looked up at him, she went on.
"That was only a small part of my dream, however," she told him, then, her voice sharp. "Most of it concerned you, Noah. It was a dream about the organization you're hoping to create, the one that will take the Company's place."
That drew his focus immediately. Noah had a duty to protect his daughter, and no rash action on Claire's part would ever change that. She might have forced things when she had chosen to reveal her ability in front of all of those cameras, but Noah refused to believe it had taken things out of his hands entirely. It had simply forced to him to alter his tactics.
Despite his misgivings, it was actually proving to be a rather liberating challenge. Where before, with the Company and later the government's project at Building 26, he had been forced to maintain secrecy, now he was forced to use the unwanted attention itself as a tool. The whole world wanted to know about Claire Bennet, and by extension, her family. He was more than capable of putting on the appropriate act, projecting the image of an unassuming salesman and father—after all, hadn't he he'd fooled his own family for years? The media had gleefully latched onto the story of secret struggles, all in the name of keeping his family safe. It was surreal becoming a household name after so many years as a phantom, but the benefits of the intrusion were well worth it.
The President, meanwhile, had found himself in the position of handling the uncertain climate following what many were considering the single most world-altering discovery since nuclear technology.
Thankfully, for all Senator Nathan Petrelli's homeland security project had turned out an utter disaster, Noah's record of service at Building 26 had not been forgotten. Neither, of course, had his role in preventing the President's assassination. Immediately after the assassination attempt, there had been the promise of funding for a new Company, and plans that Noah would be at it's head. Unfortunately, securing that funding had taken longer to arrange. He had allowed himself to become distracted—by Claire's start Georgetown, by his marriage to Sandra falling apart. He had found himself juggling Tracy's rampage, and Hiro's illness, Jeremy Greer and the fallout of Nathan's death.
And by the time they were forced to deal with Samuel Sullivan, they were already set on a collision course with another destiny entirely...
While the President clearly had some faith in him, the FBI director unfortunately saw things differently. He had made it clear to Noah on more than one occasion that illegal vigilante organizations like the Company were little better in his esteem than the mob. And while he retained his promised position at the head of everything, "everything" unfortunately consisted of remarkably little: a small grouping of offices under the thumb of the FBI, a painfully small bankroll under tight scrutiny, a handful of uncatalogued Company documents, and a team that at this point consisted only of Tracy Strauss, her nephew, and himself...
Still, in the past he had made do with much less, he reminded himself, recalling almost fondly his time in Costa Verde. Living in hiding with his family as Noah Butler hadn't been the high point of his life, but he had managed to wage war against the Company itself while living as a manager of a Copy Kingdom. Angela had once called him "the man with the plan", and while during his dark tenure at Building 26 Noah hadn't felt he was up to the challenge, he now found himself rising to the occasion.
Baby steps, Noah thought to himself, recalling Detective Esposito's words almost smugly, and entirely without the man's sarcasm.
And so, as she outlined her dream of the future, Angela commanded his full and complete attention.
"In this dream, I caught glimpses of the men and women who will play a part in your organization," Angela said. "Their faces were photographs on a string web, the type I've seen made to map time. Konrad's face was among them, as were Suresh, and Matt Parkman. Most of the others were unfamiliar, however. You stood at the center of the web with a dark complected man I've never seen before. He was shaking your hand, though his expression was far from friendly.
"He is the man who holds all the strings, Noah," Angela told him carefully, "whether he knows it yet or not, and without him your organization can never be. I don't know how it ties in with Konrad or Zimmerman's murder, only that this case will make your fledgeling agency—or destroy it before it can ever be born."
She paused, considering.
"Normally, I might advise discretion," Angela said finally, "but in the immediate future, I believe trust will be far more valuable than secrets."
Noah nodded faintly as he absorbed the information and her advice. That last was a call he had already made. He frowned, thinking back on his meeting with the detectives at the 12th, and about Javier Esposito in particular. The man had struck him as incredibly hostile, and while he hadn't seen enough to get a proper measure of him, Noah had thought it was oddly unprofessional. Looking back, he thought the reactions of those who did know him seemed to support his hunch that the behavior was unusual. And then there had been his unexpected knowledge of Noah's past employment...
It looked as though there was a lot about the detective that didn't add up.
"I might know the man you're speaking of," Noah said thoughtfully, almost certain now that Esposito was the man Angela had seen. Now that he had an inkling of the man's importance, Noah intended to pay close attention, and look into it more closely when the opportunity arose. "Was there anything else?"
Angela hesitated, her shoulders tense. Her mouth was pressed in a bitter line.
"One other image jumped out at me in the course of the dream. A watch," she emphasized, pausing significantly. "You know the one I mean."
Noah tensed, fists clenching at his sides before he was even conscious of the reaction.
"Sylar," he managed, jaw clenching when Angela nodded.
"In the dream, the broken watch had been repaired," Angela said, unable to keep a skeptical sneer out of her voice. "I know Peter likes to think he's tamed the beast, but... Please, Noah. Be careful."
PREV: Interlude 1 // MAIN // NEXT: Interlude 2
Author's Note: Thanks to
lornrocks for inspiring the idea about the Carnival's fate.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Tuesday, 30 August 2011 08:58 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Wednesday, 31 August 2011 10:12 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 29 January 2012 02:35 pm (UTC)From:And I've thought from the start one was the other and all the while I was like "But I wouldn't have thought his name was exactly like that..."
Pff... Zimmerman doesn't exist in the show, right?
Ivan Spektor. Definitely something shady about the name. :P
I just had a Buffy/Heroes xover idea. Slayers are just special specials. *nods*
I'm obviously comenting as I read. Do not mind me.
Riiiiight. I'd forgotten about Hana. She's still... um. Numerized, right? Weird. That's right. Wireless.
Okay. Excited. I wanna know what the link is, now. ^^
Huh. Javier holds the key, huh? Of course he does. It's not like he has a lot to deal with or anything. :P
So.... Sylar, huh?
I hope he's not bad again. he's gone too much flip flopping. And at the end he was... good-ish.
Like... a bad boy but a good guy? Anyway... We'll see.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 29 January 2012 09:34 pm (UTC)From:Actually, he does. He was only in one episode, though he also shows up in one or two comics and in footage at Coyote Sands. He was the scientist who created the original formula that gave Nathan and the triplets (Nikki, Tracy and only-in-pictures Barbara) abilities.
I use a lot of obscure details. I don't honestly expect people to pick up on half of them. That's why I try to write the story from the POV of the Castle characters whenever possible, because those details are all new to them too.
The meeting between the original founders and Kaito in the '60s also happened (in the comics).
I'm obviously comenting as I read. Do not mind me.
No, that's awesome. Definitely keep doing that if you like. :)
no subject
Date: Saturday, 14 July 2012 02:27 pm (UTC)From:Well, that just seemed unfair—like wishing for more wishes.
It is, isn't it? It just throws the whole thing out of whack! It's like life handing out $10,000 to each person and some get a real prize - they get a million! Lottery winners for sure, but then you find that occasionally, someone gets the ability to add to their own coffers an equal amount to the wealth of anyone they run into, without limit. So they meet you and instantly add $10k to their accounts. It doesn't take away from yours, but they're richer just from knowing you. Then they run into a few of those jackpot winner millionaires and suddenly they're richer than everyone else.
It's so freaking effortless, too. Sylar's original ability at least had a cost. When they took that away later with the empathy stuff it felt like such a rip-off to me. Sort of like how once Peter got control of his power, I felt it was too much. Made my head spin to even imagine. You have Jesus Christ and Luke Skywalker and Superman all rolled up in one there. Much as I hated him being depowered, it had to happen.
"Detective Beckett bears a striking resemblance to your old partner, Hana Gitelman,"
I'm very bad with faces, so I wonder if they have the same actress?
"He absorbed the Ghost's ability," Castle realized swiftly
And just imagine the repercussions to an already-damaged empath getting that ability! Even assuming the ability itself doesn't come with mental side effects, the damage to one's personal relationships must be HUGE. No wonder he destroyed his past identity!
a dark complected man I've never seen before. He was shaking your hand, though his expression was far from friendly. He is the man who holds all the strings,
For some reason I imagine the guy in charge of the Fringe group - the tall, grim, bald, black dude who was Olivia's boss. Broyles.
almost certain now that Esposito was the man Angela had seen.
Or maybe not Broyles. But that would be interesting - a threeway fandom crossover. I had some plans, three years ago, for crossing over Fringe with Heroes. Never went anywhere with them, though.
I love in your story how every chapter reveals fascinating new bits of mystery!
no subject
Date: Saturday, 14 July 2012 06:20 pm (UTC)From:Exactly. Which is part of why Konrad is so broken, because I needed a way to nerf his ability a little, while still leaving him potentially dangerous.
Though, now that I think of it, a story involving a villain with full-powered empathic mimicry could potentially be epic...
I'm very bad with faces, so I wonder if they have the same actress?
*nodnod* Stana Katic.
Even assuming the ability itself doesn't come with mental side effects, the damage to one's personal relationships must be HUGE. No wonder he destroyed his past identity!
Yeah. They way I picture the ability working, it'd be like the movie Memento only turned inside out.
And I'm glad you liked this chapter. I know I'm probably weird for it, but I just love Noah and Angela. They're some of the most complex characters Heroes ever had, and they just fascinate the crap out of me.
(Also, Castle was just such a fun, perfect POV to write from for this chapter. I really wish I had more places I could use him in this story.)