The end of a beginning.

Three months had gone by since that fateful day.

Three months since I cut a hole in my heart, broke my principles out of sheer terror, terror of losing what little I had, the terror of being stranded in a world not my own.

The guilt, it had come slowly, over the next week, then month, and the tears I shed in my private moments brought me closer to terms with the reality of this new life.

Not just at their deaths. I didn't care much for that.

But rather, for the compromise I had had to make.

The humiliation I had felt, alone and afraid, peeking over my shoulder, expecting to die at any time from the speedster Arthur had on his payroll.

If only I had had more courage. If only I had attacked Pinehearst that day. If I had killed Arthur Petrelli immediately.

Maybe, just maybe they could have lived. Those innocent children. And I wouldn't have had to compromise. If only I had been smarter, made a better plan....

If only...

At times I had awoken from a nightmare, seeing my hands covered in ash, pitch black.

But it was too late. What was done, was done.

At one point, during the second month, with my power armor finished, with a renewed supply of portal fluid and my very own space cruiser built into a camper van, I had thought to rush into the company, guns blazing, and decimate them once and for all.

But thankfully, the rational part of myself had held me back

In due time it said. All in due time.

And so here I was, the lean end of the third, drone sitting on the roof of the Deveaux building, for the 40th day in a row.

Why 40 days? Because of what I was about to do here.

To kill the father of a time traveler and escape with my life.

It had taken an intricate understanding of Hiro Nakamura's character for me to even attempt this and escape with my life.

I had begun the plan by teleporting the drone deep into the New York bay, under tons of seawater, with a new and improved engine and to shift blame, a Pinehearst logo emblazoned on it's shell, where Hiro Nakamura couldn't trace it back even if he stopped time, because the sheer water pressure would crush his body to death.

Then I waited, the drone cloaked for the next 40 days. All for this day. For this one moment.

Kaito Nakamura walked to the roof, nostalgically looking at the abandoned penthouse, as he leaned on the edge of the railing, Ando Masahashi at his side.

Seizing the moment, I engaged the laser guns, killing them both.

Just at that moment, time seemed to roll back.

The drone appeared, overturned, and the image of Hiro stabbing at it with his sword, in vain, appeared on the camera.

Too late. He had come back too late.

And now it was the end of the line.

Tears flowing down his cheeks, Hiro took his father and disappeared, moments later reappearing, setting the timeline right again.

Kaito Nakamura died, twice that day, a new record for a non-superhuman.

Truly, time powers are such bullshit!

As the his father's corpse fell to the floor, Hiro looked at the drone, seething with hate, before teleporting away.

Another week passed by, and it was time.

The news had announced a new CEO for Yamagato industries, and my time had come.

Donning the power armor, I opeened a portal into the headquarters of Yamagato industries, walking out before Hiro, as he perked up.

"Walker-san!" He cheered up, with a notably better grasp of english, giving me a hug, "It's been so long! The robo armor is supa cool!"

"It certainly has, Hiro. But actually, I came here to warn you!" I greeted with a flourish, playing into his character weakness, "New villains are rising. The world needs you, Hiro!"

Hiro's eyes twinkled with delight, as he grabbed his sword.

"Hai! Finally! I was getting so bored!" He said.

"Good. Nice to see you aren't running away from your destiny!" I said, displaying an image on my holographic glove.

"Have you seen this symbol before?"

Hiro's eyes turned cold suddenly, as he remembered the death of his father, and he nodded.

"The day my father died...this was on the machine that killed him..." He replied.

"Yes. That is the new villain's work. He stole my technology and is using it to further his plans for world domination.

Only you can stop him, Hiro!" I stoked his ego.

"Tell me what I have to do!" He said, sitting on the desk.

"Yes, about that....did you recieve an envelope with your father's will?" I asked.

Hiro thought for a moment as he rummaged through the pile of documents on his desk before retrieving a packet.

"Yes, that one." I said, confirming the existence of the safe, and locked the door to his office, freezing it shut with my freeze ray, before walking to a shelving desk at the front of the room.

"Now come here." I said, gesturing at Hiro, who was looking at the frozen door incredulously.

Hiro came closer, as I kneeled at the foot of the display desk that adorned the office with the many awards that the company had recieved for it's work.

Poking at the right place, I pulled off a panel, revealing the safe.

"Put your hand here." I led his hand to the fingerprint recognition pad as the safe clicked open, revealing an envelope.

Hiro snatched up the envelope, and tore it open like the petulant man-child he was, whining about the half torn piece of paper within.

"What is this? I was expecting something more-"

Then, the paper disappeared from his hands, as the blinds fluttered violently.

Dammit!

"Hiro!" I pointed out the stolen paper, grabbing his hand, "Freeze time, now!"

Unexpectedly, he obeyed.

The world came to a standstill, and a trail of silver white appeared in the room, leading put the window.

Following it to the window, I spotted it leading down the length of the building, and into the street across the road from the company.

Daphne Milbrook. The resident speedster of the Heroes world.

She was a professional thief, working for Arthur Petrelli, who would eventually have a change of heart after seeing his true intentions.

Unfortunately, for her, I have no time or patience for any such thing.

I opened a portal to the street, following her trail, Hiro close behind me.

We found her running in slow mo, two blocks away, staring at us curiously.

"Stop right there, four viran!" Hiro said, running in front of her, hand outstretched like a traffic officer.

"How are you doing this?" she asked me, "Are you a speedster too?"

"No." I replied, freezing her legs to the street, before applying a light chill to the rest of her body, and took the paper from her.

"It's not me. It's him." I pointed at Hiro, "He's a time manipulator."

"That is such a cheat!" She replied, still cheery and confident in her escape.

Almost annoyed me how carefree she was.

"You know you're going to die here, right?" I told her.

"Yeah right." She rolled her eyes, vibrating herself, melting the ice.

"You'll have to catch me firs-"

Famous last words, as my drone blew her head off.

Hiro's eyes widened as he recognized the attack.

"Y-y-..... walker-san, you are a viran too?" He said, shaken.

"Yep. Goodbye, Hiro!" I said, opening a portal, as the an armada of drones descended from the sky, wiping him out, before following me into the portal.

I closed the portal behind me as the traffic resumed and the faint gasps could be heard.

With that taken care of and the formula in my hands, I began the process of creating the serum.

Drawing blood from Claire's brain, which I had kept it suspended animation for the last three months, I prepped the formula, mixing both components and adding in Mohinder's antibodies that I had used to create a vaccine to the Shanti Virus, pouring them into a centrifuge for mixing.

As the centrifuge came to stop, a flesh colored serum settled at the bottom, smelling like rotten mangoes mixed with disinfectant.

"Eh...might as well..." I said, sucking some up in a syringe, tapping the bubbles out carefully.

I laid down on my makeshift bed in the camper, and looked at the syringe in my hands.

It's do or die now. I can't very well move onto the multiverse without any powers.

With a breath, I injected the serum into my veins, praying.

"Please be empathetic mimicry, please be empatheticmimicry....."

The serum emptied into my veins, and burnt a fiery path. My nerves ran on fire, muscles spasming as I thrashed about in pain.

A migraine thumped in my head, sending waves of dizziness across me.

"Gyaaaah!"

Was it supposed to hurt this fucking much!?

This never happened in the show!

No nonono...focus.

Phew! Focus.

Yes.

Empathetic mimicry, empathetic mimicry... please!

I crossed my fingers as the serum reahaped me into a superhuman.

Slowly, over the course of what seemed like hours, but was actually a couple of minutes in retrospect, the pain subsided and consciousness came rushing back to me, clear as a mountain stream, splashing me with a cold and hard sensation.

Something itched in my head, as the van itself seemed to cry at my presence.

No. I cried, in realisation.

I raised a hand, imagining Ted and his dour country boy personality.

Light up. Light up light up!

I wished, and wished so hard it could have given me delusions, but my hands stayed the same old wheat colored ones.

No light, no nuclear flame.

No. C'mon man!

I imagined Nathan flying, felt the wind on my cheeks and pushed within.

Fly dammit!

Nothing again.

Nothing.

Finally, I relented, and gave in to the itch, as my true power came to bear.

The van lit up like a christmas tree, the machines bowing to my will, whispering sweet invitations to me.

I sighed.

Technokinesis.

It wasn't a bad power.

Not if I wanted to be a tech wiz. But.....I had so desperately hoped it would empathetic mimicry. It was the one thing I had desired. I was so sure....and yet...

I shook my head. No. This is still salvageable. There will be other opportunities, in other worlds. And maybe now, I can repair the Spindle.

I'm sure somewhere in Rick's memories, I will find a way to steal powers. I just know it!

Yes. Just gotta be a little bit more optimistic.

Yosh. Let's go.

I sat up, sliding out of the back of the car, and got into the driver's seat.

No time to waste.

I tapped the control glove, and deployed the drones, preprogrammed for one thing alone.

Revenge.

I opened portal after portal, all around me, each leading to a different Pinehearst facility.

The drones scattered like flies, bearing a miniature nuetrino bomb each.

Within seconds that day, Pinehearst was wiped form the face of the world, leaving behind only craters as the testament to it's existence.

Later, world governments would call it the day of Reckoning as they scrambled to search for the culprit, and finding none, had to come to terms with the existence of civilizations beyond, leading to a new age and the formation of a United Federation of Earth, in response to the attack, something I would find out millennia later when I revisited this world out of nostalgia.

But that was a tale for another day.

Today, with my goals accomplished, I leaned out the window of the van, and shot out the final portal, leading out of this world onto a new one.

I put on my radical sunglasses and custom nekomimi headphones, as Life Is A Highway by Rascall Flatts started playing.

Twisting the key fob, I started up the engine, the van transforming into a space cruiser, and engaged the thrusters.

This was the end of a beginning.

I sighed, satisfied.

Time for a new adventure, in a galaxy far, far away.