I'm really glad you're enjoying this. I have a tendency to be super self-conscious about this story because it's core premise is just so bizarre.

And I'm glad it reads well without a ton of Heroes knowledge. I try and write it as much as possible from the POV of the Castle characters, so that all the important weirdness is covered explaining it to them. It's...handy.

Ryan does tend to feel like something of a cypher sometimes. I mean, I love him, but even on the show lot of his personality seems to be tied up in stereotypes (geek, Irish, absurdly whipped boyfriend...), that he comes off almost cartoony sometimes.

Huh. I think that's even partly why I wound up writing this story...in a twisted sort of way.