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Title: Black Edelweiss
Series: Zeitgeist
Follows: One Giant Leap
Wordcount: 2,014
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 warnings and details in main post.
PREV: Interlude 14 // MAIN // NEXT: Interlude 15
Recap:
After an enlightening, disturbing, yet unfruitful interview with Konrad, Bennet and Beckett each acknowledged that the case was back at square one. Putting Konrad on ice for the time being, they focused their attention back on Barbara. Bennet mentioned a contact in Chennai who might be able to find her.
Chapter Sixteen: Curiosity Killed the Cat (Satisfaction Brought it Back)
"Everything makes sense a bit at a time. But when you try to think of it all at once, it comes out wrong."
—Terry Prachett, Only You Can Save Mankind
"So...wait," Castle said, confused and fascinated and desperately trying to keep up. "You're saying the Company used to use Three Mile Island as a prison for dangerous specials?"
"Not...quite," Bennet said carefully, taking a moment to consider his wording, "But the Company did have facilities there under its control. It wasn't until Adam's attempt at global genocide that they were converted into a prison. Adam's accomplice, Maury Parkman, was a telepath just like his son. He managed to elude capture when Adam was caught, and at the time the other Founders felt that the best way to hide Adam's whereabouts was to have as few people know where he was as possible."
Which Castle supposed made plenty of sense, in its way. In that way that any of this did.
It still boggled his mind how sharply the case had turned, shifting into something impossibly more bizarre and complex than even the craziest of his own playfully offered conspiracy theories could ever possibly hope to be. In spite of the very high—and shockingly personal—stakes now riding on the case, Castle itched for a pen. His curiosity, his excitement, his intrigue and delight in the strange, were not new, yet these familiar and constant parts of his personality suddenly left him feeling almost ashamed. Whatever and whoever Kevin Ryan really was, Castled considered him a friend, and feeling those things in the midst of what was happening to him felt wrong. Disrespectful.
He wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation. Right now, though, it was a distraction from the task at hand, and so, with considerable difficulty, Castle tried to put the problem aside.
Bennet had managed to get a hold of his contact around 4 am—which, the world clock on Castle's phone had helpfully supplied, would have been early afternoon in Chennai. After some information juggling, apparently they had managed to locate Barbara's whereabouts by some means Castle could only assume were in some way supernatural—which wasn't exactly an out of bounds assumption, not any more. Bennet had been receiving texts updating them on Barbara's movements for the past half hour.
It was now 5:13 am, and Castle, Kate and Bennet sat parked across the street from an unexceptional coffee shop on the Lower East Side, patiently awaiting first contact.
Kate spotted Barbara's arrival in the rear view mirror. She stepped out of the car, positioning herself ahead of their target, covering her presence by browsing the newspapers in a nearby stand. Bennet waited for Barbara to pass the car before he exited as well. Castle had been instructed to stay in the car, but of course Kate had known exactly how likely he was to follow that directive the moment she had given it.
And Bennet was a very observant man. He didn't even turn around at the sound of the car door closing as Castle followed.
"Barbara Zimmerman?"
Barbara halted when Kate spoke her name, turning on her heel very quickly. She saw Bennet almost immediately, though, and Castle saw the exact moment she realized she was trapped. Castle also thought he saw recognition in her eyes—though, of course, everyone recognized Bennet these days.
"Ms. Zimmerman," Bennet greeted civilly. "You may not remember me. My name is Noah Bennet—"
"I know who you are," Barbara interrupted.
Her reply was several steps away from civil.
"Then you can probably guess why I'm here," Noah responded evenly. He nodded toward Kate. "This is Detective Kate Beckett with NYPD Homicide. I'm aiding her investigation of your father's murder, and we would both appreciate it very much if you would cooperate."
Barbara didn't seem convinced. She glanced over her shoulder at Kate, her expression still wary. Her eyes searched the crowd around them, and Castle was sure she was looking for some route of escape. After a moment she seemed to decide this was futile and she nodded and turned to look at Kate, her eyes wide and terrified.
"Look, I'd love to help you any way I could, but you can't—" she cut off, wetting her lips before she said, "It might not be safe."
An odd, conflicted sympathy crossed Kate's expression.
"If it's Reichardt that you're worried about, we have him in custody," Kate said, her voice soft, but sure and even in a way Castle seriously envied.
Barbara appeared somewhat skeptical at first, but she looked back at Noah and after a moment her head dipped a shaky nod. She let out a slow breath, eyes closing for a moment as some of the tension bled out of her posture.
"Thank— Thank God," she said, "I— You have no idea. When he showed up at my apartment yesterday, I thought— I thought I was going to be next."
Kate frowned. For a moment, Castle thought it simply reflected her unease with the situation—with the horror Barbara had felt being confronted with Konrad's presence. Kevin's. If that had been the case, Castle could have hardly blamed her for it, because uneasy was the least of what he felt about it. But after a few seconds, he realized the expression was different than he thought, and that wasn't her reason at all.
"Barbara," Kate asked, a slight puzzled expression still written on her face, "did you know that your father had been murdered when Konrad showed up at your door?"
Barbara didn't answer right away, and when she did it was with a silent, shallow nod. Kate's puzzlement solidified into something more focused, seizing on the detail.
"How did you know that?" Kate asked.
"I got a phone call," Barbara said, "right before Konrad knocked on my door. A man who said he'd worked with my father at the Company— They...they did something to our memories when my father was kicked out, so I don't remember a lot, but his name sounded familiar. And he knew enough that I believed him. He warned me that I was in danger."
She paused, slowly shaking her head.
"We were supposed to meet so that we could talk about what to do, but when Konrad showed up flashing a badge, I thought— I thought he could have been using the police to look for me, and I was too afraid to show up for the meeting."
"Barbara, can you get in touch with this man?" Kate asked. "If he has information on your father's murder, we need to speak with him."
"I don't know how to contact him, he just called me..." Barbara said regretfully.
After a moment she turned back toward Bennet.
"He said his name was Adam Monroe."
Things pretty much exploded after that, and with a momentum Castle could barely keep track of. They headed back to the station with Barbara in tow, Bennet shouting commands into his phone like it was going out of style. Castle felt sorry for the ear on the other end—especially when the voice that answered Bennet through the speaker phone didn't even sound old enough to shave.
"I was listening through your phone, so I'm already a few steps ahead of you, Fearless Leader," the voice said.
Light, but not mocking, and still clearly focused, it wasn't a tone Bennet particularly seemed to mind.
"I've let Tracy know what's going on, and Hiro's gone to grab Peter, just in case. They should both be back at the station five minutes ago—maybe even for real, knowing Hiro."
"Good work, Micah," Bennet said. "Now I need visual confirmation that Monroe is alive, so see if you can find him. Check wherever you have to—civilian surveillance, traffic cameras, anything you can find—and don't worry about being discreet. I shouldn't have to tell you how dangerous Monroe is."
"On it."
"Whoa," Castle said once Bennet ended the call. He genuinely was a little stunned. "So Big Brother really is watching."
"It isn't Big Brother you need to worry about," Bennet countered dryly.
In spite of the renewed urgency of the case, in the rear-view mirror Castle thought he saw him smirk.
(—
=)
"Explain this to me one more time," Montgomery said. "Slowly."
Gathered together in the captain's office once more, they had already outlined the situation once. Though with a case as complex as this one had become, even their best efforts had fallen apart into a sort of barely controlled chaos of hard to believe information and strange theories. It was easy for Castle to forget how quickly things could shift, and how much the topography of a case could change before they had the chance to bring their information to Montgomery's attention. Adding onto it the fact that the captain was stuck with not only handling the everyday functions of his station, but also with keeping in contact with Bennet's supervisors in Washington, and Castle didn't envy his job at all.
And that was without taking into consideration how he must feel having one of his detectives locked in a cell.
"Adam Monroe and Konrad were close associates prior to their involvement with the Company," Noah explained, "but in 1977 Konrad helped defeat Adam's attempt at unleashing a virus that could have potentially wiped out the entire human race. Adam escaped Company custody in 2007, managing to kill most of the surviving founders before he staged his second attempt."
"And he was believed killed by another special later that year," Montgomery said, checking his facts as understood from the reports he had already received.
"Yes," Bennet confirmed. "Though obviously we have reason to question it now."
Bennet paused, his expression...unhappy, to say the least.
"Actually, I should have questioned it sooner," Bennet admitted. "After all, with Konrad's regenerative ability neutralized, Detective Ryan simply aged at a normal rate."
"So I take it that reports of Monroe's death were greatly exaggerated," Castle said, the quote falling absently from his lips without effort. Bennet acknowledged with a faint sound.
"Right now, it's useless to spend any effort figuring out how," Bennet said, dismissing it. "We need to focus on finding him. I have a man monitoring surveillance hoping to pick up some sign of him. Apart from a few confirmed sightings, however, he has been very effective in remaining under the radar."
Castle thought calling Bennet's associate a "man" was also somewhat exaggerated, but he kept that observation to himself.
"Do you have reason to believe Dr. Zimmerman's death was part of some greater agenda?" Montgomery asked, real concern writing itself into his features.
It wasn't every day they dealt with someone willing to attempt murder on such a massive scale.
"Yes and no," Kate said. "Monroe managed to stay dead for almost four years. He isn't going to risk that unless he has something specific to gain from it."
"And in this case?" Montgomery asked.
"Revenge," Castle said, jumping in. When Montgomery raised an eyebrow, he went on to explain. "The touches surrounding the case all feel very personal, but there's no motive so far for killing Zimmerman. On the other hand, Adam would have every reason to go after Konrad."
"Go on."
"I think Konrad may have been his real target," Castle said. "I think Zimmerman was murdered to draw Konrad out of hiding—a message Adam couldn't have known was falling on deaf ears. It's even possible that Konrad was right about it being a set up, and that exposing him was always Adam's true aim."
"His exact goals are only conjecture at this point," Bennet said slowly, "but from what we know of Monroe's personality, that motive would seem to fit."
"Alright," Montgomery said, nodding as the idea sunk in. "So what do we do about him?"
"If Adam wanted to draw Konrad out," Kate said, "we might be able to use that to draw him out instead."
"I have an idea, Noah," Peter said.
As promised, Peter and Hiro had been waiting at the station when they arrived. Out of all of them, save Konrad, Peter held the most—and the most recent—information on their suspect. That had earned him a spot inside Montgomery's office during the discussion, but he had remained silent throughout. Finally speaking up, his words drew everyone's attention. His expression seemed somewhat pained, and, Castle thought, inexplicably sheepish.
"But you're really not going to like it."
PREV: Interlude 14 // MAIN // NEXT: Interlude 15
Author's Note: A few others have probably also figured it out, but I figured it was worth mentioning that, though I screened the comment to avoid people getting spoiled early,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
game_byrd totally called it first.
The stuff about Three Mile Island is not canonically accurate. I could try and fix it, but I put the mention in another chapter, and would just rather not fuck with it. I figured if you could handle Konrad's existence I might be forgiven one tiny detail.
Also, since my narrative style has shifted slightly in terms of which names I use for which characters in whose POV, I've been planning on going through earlier chapters and fixing them for the sake of consistency. However, I wasn't sure whether I should leave Castle as "Castle" in the chapters from his point of view, or change that name to Rick. I've decided to keep him as Castle throughout for the following reasons:
a. Almost no one else refers to him as Rick, either in their own heads or out loud, and changing his name might add to confusion.
b. Referring to him as Rick or Richard might be confusing on its own, because of Konrad's identity as Richard Conway.
c. He's the title character of one of the shows, so.
d. "Castle" is a pen name (his real last name is Rodgers). He's also the definition of "not business like", so given the fact that he often answers his phonecalls with "Castle." it might actually be his own name for himself in his head.
e. Clearly, identity issues run in the god damned family.
Series: Zeitgeist
Follows: One Giant Leap
Wordcount: 2,014
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 warnings and details in main post.
PREV: Interlude 14 // MAIN // NEXT: Interlude 15
Recap:
After an enlightening, disturbing, yet unfruitful interview with Konrad, Bennet and Beckett each acknowledged that the case was back at square one. Putting Konrad on ice for the time being, they focused their attention back on Barbara. Bennet mentioned a contact in Chennai who might be able to find her.
Chapter Sixteen: Curiosity Killed the Cat (Satisfaction Brought it Back)
"Everything makes sense a bit at a time. But when you try to think of it all at once, it comes out wrong."
—Terry Prachett, Only You Can Save Mankind
"So...wait," Castle said, confused and fascinated and desperately trying to keep up. "You're saying the Company used to use Three Mile Island as a prison for dangerous specials?"
"Not...quite," Bennet said carefully, taking a moment to consider his wording, "But the Company did have facilities there under its control. It wasn't until Adam's attempt at global genocide that they were converted into a prison. Adam's accomplice, Maury Parkman, was a telepath just like his son. He managed to elude capture when Adam was caught, and at the time the other Founders felt that the best way to hide Adam's whereabouts was to have as few people know where he was as possible."
Which Castle supposed made plenty of sense, in its way. In that way that any of this did.
It still boggled his mind how sharply the case had turned, shifting into something impossibly more bizarre and complex than even the craziest of his own playfully offered conspiracy theories could ever possibly hope to be. In spite of the very high—and shockingly personal—stakes now riding on the case, Castle itched for a pen. His curiosity, his excitement, his intrigue and delight in the strange, were not new, yet these familiar and constant parts of his personality suddenly left him feeling almost ashamed. Whatever and whoever Kevin Ryan really was, Castled considered him a friend, and feeling those things in the midst of what was happening to him felt wrong. Disrespectful.
He wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation. Right now, though, it was a distraction from the task at hand, and so, with considerable difficulty, Castle tried to put the problem aside.
Bennet had managed to get a hold of his contact around 4 am—which, the world clock on Castle's phone had helpfully supplied, would have been early afternoon in Chennai. After some information juggling, apparently they had managed to locate Barbara's whereabouts by some means Castle could only assume were in some way supernatural—which wasn't exactly an out of bounds assumption, not any more. Bennet had been receiving texts updating them on Barbara's movements for the past half hour.
It was now 5:13 am, and Castle, Kate and Bennet sat parked across the street from an unexceptional coffee shop on the Lower East Side, patiently awaiting first contact.
Kate spotted Barbara's arrival in the rear view mirror. She stepped out of the car, positioning herself ahead of their target, covering her presence by browsing the newspapers in a nearby stand. Bennet waited for Barbara to pass the car before he exited as well. Castle had been instructed to stay in the car, but of course Kate had known exactly how likely he was to follow that directive the moment she had given it.
And Bennet was a very observant man. He didn't even turn around at the sound of the car door closing as Castle followed.
"Barbara Zimmerman?"
Barbara halted when Kate spoke her name, turning on her heel very quickly. She saw Bennet almost immediately, though, and Castle saw the exact moment she realized she was trapped. Castle also thought he saw recognition in her eyes—though, of course, everyone recognized Bennet these days.
"Ms. Zimmerman," Bennet greeted civilly. "You may not remember me. My name is Noah Bennet—"
"I know who you are," Barbara interrupted.
Her reply was several steps away from civil.
"Then you can probably guess why I'm here," Noah responded evenly. He nodded toward Kate. "This is Detective Kate Beckett with NYPD Homicide. I'm aiding her investigation of your father's murder, and we would both appreciate it very much if you would cooperate."
Barbara didn't seem convinced. She glanced over her shoulder at Kate, her expression still wary. Her eyes searched the crowd around them, and Castle was sure she was looking for some route of escape. After a moment she seemed to decide this was futile and she nodded and turned to look at Kate, her eyes wide and terrified.
"Look, I'd love to help you any way I could, but you can't—" she cut off, wetting her lips before she said, "It might not be safe."
An odd, conflicted sympathy crossed Kate's expression.
"If it's Reichardt that you're worried about, we have him in custody," Kate said, her voice soft, but sure and even in a way Castle seriously envied.
Barbara appeared somewhat skeptical at first, but she looked back at Noah and after a moment her head dipped a shaky nod. She let out a slow breath, eyes closing for a moment as some of the tension bled out of her posture.
"Thank— Thank God," she said, "I— You have no idea. When he showed up at my apartment yesterday, I thought— I thought I was going to be next."
Kate frowned. For a moment, Castle thought it simply reflected her unease with the situation—with the horror Barbara had felt being confronted with Konrad's presence. Kevin's. If that had been the case, Castle could have hardly blamed her for it, because uneasy was the least of what he felt about it. But after a few seconds, he realized the expression was different than he thought, and that wasn't her reason at all.
"Barbara," Kate asked, a slight puzzled expression still written on her face, "did you know that your father had been murdered when Konrad showed up at your door?"
Barbara didn't answer right away, and when she did it was with a silent, shallow nod. Kate's puzzlement solidified into something more focused, seizing on the detail.
"How did you know that?" Kate asked.
"I got a phone call," Barbara said, "right before Konrad knocked on my door. A man who said he'd worked with my father at the Company— They...they did something to our memories when my father was kicked out, so I don't remember a lot, but his name sounded familiar. And he knew enough that I believed him. He warned me that I was in danger."
She paused, slowly shaking her head.
"We were supposed to meet so that we could talk about what to do, but when Konrad showed up flashing a badge, I thought— I thought he could have been using the police to look for me, and I was too afraid to show up for the meeting."
"Barbara, can you get in touch with this man?" Kate asked. "If he has information on your father's murder, we need to speak with him."
"I don't know how to contact him, he just called me..." Barbara said regretfully.
After a moment she turned back toward Bennet.
"He said his name was Adam Monroe."
Things pretty much exploded after that, and with a momentum Castle could barely keep track of. They headed back to the station with Barbara in tow, Bennet shouting commands into his phone like it was going out of style. Castle felt sorry for the ear on the other end—especially when the voice that answered Bennet through the speaker phone didn't even sound old enough to shave.
"I was listening through your phone, so I'm already a few steps ahead of you, Fearless Leader," the voice said.
Light, but not mocking, and still clearly focused, it wasn't a tone Bennet particularly seemed to mind.
"I've let Tracy know what's going on, and Hiro's gone to grab Peter, just in case. They should both be back at the station five minutes ago—maybe even for real, knowing Hiro."
"Good work, Micah," Bennet said. "Now I need visual confirmation that Monroe is alive, so see if you can find him. Check wherever you have to—civilian surveillance, traffic cameras, anything you can find—and don't worry about being discreet. I shouldn't have to tell you how dangerous Monroe is."
"On it."
"Whoa," Castle said once Bennet ended the call. He genuinely was a little stunned. "So Big Brother really is watching."
"It isn't Big Brother you need to worry about," Bennet countered dryly.
In spite of the renewed urgency of the case, in the rear-view mirror Castle thought he saw him smirk.
(—
=)
"Explain this to me one more time," Montgomery said. "Slowly."
Gathered together in the captain's office once more, they had already outlined the situation once. Though with a case as complex as this one had become, even their best efforts had fallen apart into a sort of barely controlled chaos of hard to believe information and strange theories. It was easy for Castle to forget how quickly things could shift, and how much the topography of a case could change before they had the chance to bring their information to Montgomery's attention. Adding onto it the fact that the captain was stuck with not only handling the everyday functions of his station, but also with keeping in contact with Bennet's supervisors in Washington, and Castle didn't envy his job at all.
And that was without taking into consideration how he must feel having one of his detectives locked in a cell.
"Adam Monroe and Konrad were close associates prior to their involvement with the Company," Noah explained, "but in 1977 Konrad helped defeat Adam's attempt at unleashing a virus that could have potentially wiped out the entire human race. Adam escaped Company custody in 2007, managing to kill most of the surviving founders before he staged his second attempt."
"And he was believed killed by another special later that year," Montgomery said, checking his facts as understood from the reports he had already received.
"Yes," Bennet confirmed. "Though obviously we have reason to question it now."
Bennet paused, his expression...unhappy, to say the least.
"Actually, I should have questioned it sooner," Bennet admitted. "After all, with Konrad's regenerative ability neutralized, Detective Ryan simply aged at a normal rate."
"So I take it that reports of Monroe's death were greatly exaggerated," Castle said, the quote falling absently from his lips without effort. Bennet acknowledged with a faint sound.
"Right now, it's useless to spend any effort figuring out how," Bennet said, dismissing it. "We need to focus on finding him. I have a man monitoring surveillance hoping to pick up some sign of him. Apart from a few confirmed sightings, however, he has been very effective in remaining under the radar."
Castle thought calling Bennet's associate a "man" was also somewhat exaggerated, but he kept that observation to himself.
"Do you have reason to believe Dr. Zimmerman's death was part of some greater agenda?" Montgomery asked, real concern writing itself into his features.
It wasn't every day they dealt with someone willing to attempt murder on such a massive scale.
"Yes and no," Kate said. "Monroe managed to stay dead for almost four years. He isn't going to risk that unless he has something specific to gain from it."
"And in this case?" Montgomery asked.
"Revenge," Castle said, jumping in. When Montgomery raised an eyebrow, he went on to explain. "The touches surrounding the case all feel very personal, but there's no motive so far for killing Zimmerman. On the other hand, Adam would have every reason to go after Konrad."
"Go on."
"I think Konrad may have been his real target," Castle said. "I think Zimmerman was murdered to draw Konrad out of hiding—a message Adam couldn't have known was falling on deaf ears. It's even possible that Konrad was right about it being a set up, and that exposing him was always Adam's true aim."
"His exact goals are only conjecture at this point," Bennet said slowly, "but from what we know of Monroe's personality, that motive would seem to fit."
"Alright," Montgomery said, nodding as the idea sunk in. "So what do we do about him?"
"If Adam wanted to draw Konrad out," Kate said, "we might be able to use that to draw him out instead."
"I have an idea, Noah," Peter said.
As promised, Peter and Hiro had been waiting at the station when they arrived. Out of all of them, save Konrad, Peter held the most—and the most recent—information on their suspect. That had earned him a spot inside Montgomery's office during the discussion, but he had remained silent throughout. Finally speaking up, his words drew everyone's attention. His expression seemed somewhat pained, and, Castle thought, inexplicably sheepish.
"But you're really not going to like it."
PREV: Interlude 14 // MAIN // NEXT: Interlude 15
Author's Note: A few others have probably also figured it out, but I figured it was worth mentioning that, though I screened the comment to avoid people getting spoiled early,
game_byrd totally called it first.The stuff about Three Mile Island is not canonically accurate. I could try and fix it, but I put the mention in another chapter, and would just rather not fuck with it. I figured if you could handle Konrad's existence I might be forgiven one tiny detail.
Also, since my narrative style has shifted slightly in terms of which names I use for which characters in whose POV, I've been planning on going through earlier chapters and fixing them for the sake of consistency. However, I wasn't sure whether I should leave Castle as "Castle" in the chapters from his point of view, or change that name to Rick. I've decided to keep him as Castle throughout for the following reasons:
a. Almost no one else refers to him as Rick, either in their own heads or out loud, and changing his name might add to confusion.
b. Referring to him as Rick or Richard might be confusing on its own, because of Konrad's identity as Richard Conway.
c. He's the title character of one of the shows, so.
d. "Castle" is a pen name (his real last name is Rodgers). He's also the definition of "not business like", so given the fact that he often answers his phonecalls with "Castle." it might actually be his own name for himself in his head.
e. Clearly, identity issues run in the god damned family.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 01:51 pm (UTC)From:The Three Mile Island thing bothers me not. I never could understand what the Company was doing involved in it anyway. And a big scary facility like that has a reason for layers and layers of security, plus low traffic, plus high energy availability (which for some specials, might be required to hold them). A facility there makes more sense than having one at a paper slitting and distribution center.
I'm assuming Peter's plan involves shape shifting. :D Which if they want Peter to maintain telepathy, then there's only one person who can do it ... heheh. No, Bennet wouldn't like that at all!
The normal aging on Reichart was something I should have clued to. I'm eagerly awaiting finding out what happened with Adam! And I'm not sure Barbara's role here is done.
Thank you so much for updating quickly. I'm all over this story!
no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 04:21 pm (UTC)From:The particular information is in Interlude 12, which features the actress, Martha, and the infamous watch.
The watch and Samson obviously connect Konrad to Sylar in that interlude, but only for Heroes fans understanding its significance.
Likewise, Martha and her words about "loving a lifetime in a single night" are only significant to Castle fans who realize that a. she is Castle's mother, and b. that those words were used to describe Castle's never-identified (even to him) father, and the night they spent together.
It's not essential to the current plot, though, because no one is going to make the connection for a very long time.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 05:56 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 05:59 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 06:06 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 06:18 pm (UTC)From:Sorry. In sort of a weird mood today.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 06:30 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 06:49 pm (UTC)From:Though now that you mention it, you have me wondering about the James Martin thing...
I've had a theory that Sylar's "empathy" acquisitions and his murder acquisitions both worked the same way. That it all really boils down to intuitive aptitude letting him duplicate abilities based on a knowledge of how the brain works. That when he's "empathically" copying an ability, what he's really doing is reverse engineering their brain functions through behavior rather than taking a direct look.
It's kind of like the difference between Sylar diagnosing Chandra's broken watch by listening to it's action, or by just opening it up and looking inside. He's able to do the first after years of experience and practice, but he couldn't have done it without the experience gained from physically digging through dozens of broken gears.
In Elle's case, copying her ability would have meant lining up their similar daddy issues as a point of reference and working from there. With James Martin, he and Danko spent a lot of time analyzing their target. And, like with Elle, Sylar had his own nebulous identity issues to use as a point from which to work from.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 06:54 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 06:59 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 07:14 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012 08:11 pm (UTC)From:Like my theory for Sylar, Konrad and the other special have to have something in common. Some specific, significant shared experience or thought process that is so similar it clicks into place. I've got a little mental list of what abilities he has picked up (some of them will be obvious, but most not), and at least an idea of the specific moment/link that allowed it to happen.
Which, given how long Konrad's been alive, and his history at the Company is still "superpowers as plot demands", but at least much less so than Peter in season one.