Oh God.

That noise.

Nope.

Nopenopenope.

Running was what she'd already decided she was doing and now that was the best idea she'd had all day. Maybe all year. She'd entered the door to the storeroom only minutes before. Now she was leaving it behind like she'd been the robber. Backup was supposed to be on the way, but none of them heard that noise.

His threat was but another thing left in her wake. She might have paid more attention to it had she been standing there, ready to face him.

Noel's heart was up in her throat and that was only partly because she ate more doughnuts than was pretty. The other part she attributed to the running. Because she was probably putting her current record to shame.

Sylar continued to thrash about, his claws and tail destroying everything with reach, like a living buzz saw he left nothing but debris and slash marks in his wake before trying to stare where Noel had been. The pain from his eyes was like liquid fire splashed onto his face, but it was starting to be outmatched by the fury and anger in the monster. He couldn't see, his thermal vision was nothing but searing red, and even movement barely read at the moment, but he wasn't about to let her get away.

Sylar was a defensive creature, always trying to keep himself away from danger by scaring it off, or running if he knew he couldn't handle the fight. But this defiance from Noel had wound up his patience and the pepper spray had snapped it. Sylar was going to draw blood tonight, he was going to show her why the world called him a monster, it was time to hunt.

Sylar took a deep breath, his instincts taking over as his human mind began to dull out, his breath flushed through his nose as he tried to clear that burning sensation from his nostrils. Pepper spray wasn't so temporary as to let the boy hunt at his full capability though, his eyes were worthless and his nose couldn't make much sense of anything at the moment. But Sylar wasn't your normal predator, every sense put his human kin to shame, and that included his ears.

What improved his hearing was hard to explain, as no one had tested the boy to learn about it, but these ears could compete with bats even, and now he was focused on finding that infuriating girl. The timid boy that Sylar had been was losing more ground to this creature now in control every day, and Noel would struggle to escape it's grasp even when it was crippled. She was running, frantic and fast. "I will find you human!" Sylar howled into the empty room, before rushing forward, stumbling a bit as he could only use his ears to navigate.

Sylar blind with rage, and lusting for vengeance would be a truly terrifying experience, and the running and excitement wouldn't be good for Noel, especially since a dangerous toxin was circulating in her veins.

A weapon. She needed a weapon. Something real. And real pointy. Or shoot-y. Yeah. A gun would be better for the range.

Unfortunately, this was hallowed ground. They didn't like guns or swords or bombs or whatever. They wanted non-violent guar— What was that?

Thinking that she'd seen something darting ahead of her, Noel skidded to a stop in order to rapidly change her direction. She threw herself against the church doors and fumbled with her keys until the padlock was off and she was inside. She wrapped the chain around the inside of the doors with jittery hands.

Her heart was slamming between her ears. It made it hard to think and her vision throbbed in time with the constant jack-hammering.

Was she safe? Hardly. That thing had made confetti of steel shelving.

A soft chuckle made her squeal and then slap her hand over her own mouth. Was that..? Was he playing with her? How could he have possibly beat her here?

Soft whispers of sound made the memorymancer whip her head around to find the source. No! She wasn't going to go down like this! She would... she would... her mind was actually running a blank. Any time she thought about that thing she just blanked into screaming white noise.

"Holy mother protect me." She whispered a quick prayer. Hey. She was in a church. If ever she was going to get a response, now would be the time.

Sylar crashed through the building complex like a bull through a china shop as he hunted for Noel. The pain he still felt burning at his eyes fueled his rage and gave him a taste for violence. Sylar was a timid boy when it came to mutant kind, his personality completely starved by his fear of this inner monster, but Sylar didn't know Noel was a mutant. She didn't get that protection, instead now she had a raging mutant after her, who only cared about one thing.

Teaching her a lesson. A painful one.

Vengeance wouldn't have been the norm for Sylar some months ago, but he'd been changed by certain individuals, who groomed the boy's confidence and told him to embrace his power, to stand tall in a world that shunned or misunderstood mutant kind. And the lesson of today was don't mess with muties. "Where are you human!?" He screamed into the hall, his ears eagerly absorbing every sound he could pick up on, always looking for that step, that breath, that scream. He knew what Noel sounded like, and as soon as he found her trail, he'd come down on her like a wolf onto a rabbit.

Her feet had carried her to a chapel, how ironic considering no power could help her against the venom in her veins. Hisses and howls, voices and shapes, all of it imaginary, the primitive part of her brain being hijacked by toxins as it played tricks on her mind and left her vulnerable. Sylar heard a door, or someone hitting a door. He grinned and moved towards the sound, again bumping his way through a reblinded world, his vision still a jumble of painful blurs.

Sylar inched closer to the door as Noel made a prayer. He wasn't sure if this was right, but there was one way to find out. Praying upon fear was second nature for the boy, his mutation after all was predatory and his form nearly supernatural. He lifted a clawed hand and smashed it against the door, not enough power to break the door in, but enough to send a thunderous thump to the other side. A surprising noise like that would surely spook the girl if this was the right room.

"You can't outrun me human. I can hear you, your racing heart and desperate breathes. I will get you!" He threatened against the door, pondering how best to actually catch Noel. He could still use his powerful hearing, but pin pointing the girl to catch her or pounce her would be difficult if she wizened up and started hiding while his nose and eyes were burnt to a crisp by her noxious spray.

She grabbed her head and mashed her hands over her ears. The action didn't even seem to block out the sound, but it made her feel a minuscule amount better. Like she could at least control this one thing. The memorymancer let herself sliiide down to a seated position with her back against the door. He was playing with her, toying with her.

Noel hated that.

She hated feeling helpless, useless, afraid... on top of all that a headache began forming behind her eyes. This reminded her of something. The memory was just out of reach. Like tip-of-the-tongue syndrome, she knew it was there, but couldn't retrieve it. Now was so not the time.

The door behind her slammed and the memorymancer jumped, letting her ears free again. Her breath hitched in a way that made her choke on her own scream.

> "You can't outrun me human. I can hear you, your racing heart and desperate breathes. I will get you!"

Just knowing he was on the other side of the door made Noel's heart start jackhammering again. Shouldn't she have some sassy reply? Maybe. But now that she knew where he was she knew which way not to run.

Was the night darker now that she had pissed off a real monster? Was it getting hotter and hotter? Were there more of him than just one?

It felt as if she was running into a swarm of insects, all nipping and biting. Her pupils vibrated with the unconscious release of her power and she swatted at nothing.

All the while, Noel ran. Her boots slapped against the stone floor, but she wasn't thinking about strategy or stealth. If she was, she wouldn't have run straight down the aisle. She was just exercising her primal lizard brain and running away from what scared her.

Sylar could hear the foot steps, the scurry of a cowed animal running from it's predator. She was past this door, and it was in his way. The boy pulled his arms back, and curling his knife like fingers into fists smashed them back against the door. It was a heavy door, thick and sturdy but it was not meant to take the fury and power of a creature stronger than a bear. Sylar's muscles tensed as the boy's arms met the wood, the frail door splintering beneath his might.

One bash and the wood broke and splintered, the second bash and a gaping hole formed in the wood, the boy's clawed arms appearing within the chapel. Sylar still couldn't see, but he could feel he was making progress. "I'm coming for you human! I know you're in there!" He hissed through the broken portal before his third smash obliterated the weakened wood, sending it across the chapel floor as he stepped forward. The boy took a breath, his muscles working hard for that as he continued the hunt.

He had to rely solely on his hearing to pin point Noel's location, but the scared memorymancer was playing her part well, her steps thunderous to the sewer boy's advanced hearing. He stepped forward, walking down the aisle towards the source of the sounds. "I gave you a chance woman, I told you to run." Sylar began to pan his head left and right, checking each sound for any sign of Noel so he could know exactly where she was, and how close he needed to be to get his claws on her. "But you wanted to play the hero, but you're not!" He growled. "The rabbit doesn't get to fight the wolf, it runs...or it dies. And I'm going to show you what that feels like." He pulled his lips back as he spoke, like a dog bearing it's fangs so did Sylar, his metallic teeth shimmering in what light there was.

"Ever been scratched human? Been bitten? None of it compares to what I do. Because I'm the wolf and you're the rabbit. And I eat rabbits." He turned his head towards the sound of breathing and smiled grimly. "Game over." He said with sinister intent, though he didn't think he was actually going to eat the girl. In fact he wasn't really thinking about what he'd do besides hurt her for hurting him, this was Sylar vengeant, and all he wanted was to inflict revenge upon her. His tail swayed happily behind him, like a cat playing with it's meal.

Noel swatted and spun drunkenly at seemingly nothing in the aisle near the pulpit.

She felt as if she was in the eye of a storm of locusts. They flew fast, zipping around and bouncing off. Little feet touched and gripped, tugging and pulling at her. They obscured her vision to what little she could see between the horde. She bumped into a candle stand and yelped before she even realized that it was just an inanimate object.

This was not right. No one mutant had this many powers. Ghost sounds, illusions, physical uhm... God, she just couldn't think! He was talking too much. And her body was in overdrive. She felt like she was burning up from the inside, but sported goose bumps.

He talked. Why did he talk so much? Noel put her hands over her ears and crouched behind the altar. If he'd just done it and come after her wouldn't it have been better? How long could she hold her breath?

> "Game over."

Not long enough. She gasped in her first full breath since he'd made it through the church door.

Noel wasn't sure when, but she had closed her eyes. Under stress, her power activated. Her power made her vision sway like a constant earthquake. Really. She wanted to run. Every fiber of her being was telling her to do so, but it just wasn't feasible.

So she stood. And she faced him with shaking hands and knees. The memorymancer opened her eyes. "I may not look it," She could barely squeak out a whisper. Could he even hear her over the drone of insects and the echoes of laughter? "But I've got my own weapons."

Sylar closed in on Noel, the distance between large enough that most humans might feel comfortable or at least safe to react. But Sylar was no man, he was a monster, and he'd be on her in a flash. The girl still choose to stand her ground again, her back to the wall and the only way out through the very predator that had cornered her. Sylar didn't care for her words or threats, or anything except the conclusion of the hunt. He had her now. He could taste the girl's fear in the air, and hear her strained breathing as they confronted each other.

Weapons? She had weapons? Sylar WAS a weapon, and it was time to show her just what hornets nest she had riled up. The boy tensed, a mere moment of time for the girl to watch as the sewer monster called the Boogeyman of New York leapt forward, covering more than six feet with a single jump as he came at the girl, claws open and ready to inflict some pain. Sylar couldn't really see the girl to know where to grasp, but his claws would look for anything he could, a wrist to grab, a leg, but he wanted her throat. That was the weak spot of all prey, you clamped down around it with claw or fang and the fight was done before it began. And Sylar had every intention so crush this girls throat till she passed out, and let her feel the fear of the dark.

Sylar crashed into Noel with all the grace of a tiger, and his claws reached out for the girl, one right for his intended target, her throat. The boy was still unaware that Noel was no human, and that as soon as they touched, each of them would be at the mercy of the other's powers. Sylar would get a taste of her mental abilities while the boy's claws were ready to cut her flesh and fill her with more toxic dread. "You're mine!" Was the last statement the boy made before doing nothing but hissing at the girl.

Every muscle tensed as Noel's instincts (and the voices in her head) screamed for her to run. She held herself from bolting, but could do nothing to stop the shaking. Of course, that all changed when she saw him lunging through the smokey barrier of the locust swarm. Noel turned and that's as far as she got.

One hand collided with her face, claws cutting into and through her cheek. The other of his clawed hands caught braid.

The result was immediate. Even as Sylar clawed his way down toward her throat and she impacted with the wall behind her, Noel's senses were no longer in the here and now. She sifted through the memories that she now had access to and latched onto the first thing she thought might give him pause.

“Oh Look, it's Sylar, he must have lost his cane and got lost huh?” She'd looked for his weaknesses, his pain from the past. The first thing she found was some bullying, but even worse were his own mother's words. “Sylar's a mutant? I knew he was different, but I never expected he wasn’t human” She let the words come out through her lips, verbatim as their original speakers said them. “Do we call the Police, or the Government? Were at a loss here.”

The next time she spoke, it was all Noel. "You're afraid of giving in to your darker side. Don't do it now. Don't... Oh my God." The words squeezed out as a whisper. Whatever Sylar was doing it hurt enough to help bring her out of the other mutant's memories. That and what she saw... "You ate someone? "

She couldn't just look at him, her pupils were doing their epileptic dance, but she tried. If she felt her memory wipe trigger, she would just go to her default "forget why you want to harm me." Assuming she could think that far.

Sylar smiled when he felt his hands connect with Noel's body, his claws eagerly grasping at the girl to secure his victory. His hand wrapped around her face, his knife-like fingers easily cutting into the girl's skin. Holding tight Sylar was ready to gloat and threaten the girl, but it seemed Noel had a trick up her sleeve, and did something that immediately slid her into the controlling position between the two.

Sylar's eyes widened whens he started quoting a story from long ago. "Wha..." The boy mumbled as the girl continued, bringing up the original moment of Sylar's life as a mutant. He heard his Mother's words again, the abandonment of her only child at a moments notice. The boy's grasp tighted and he thrust Noel back against the wall painfully. "How do you?....Don't you insult me!" The boy was confused, he'd never told anyone what his Mother had said to him. Not even Serena or Roach, how could this girl know those words? Say them exactly like she had? It infuriated and worried Sylar, throwing off his violent momentum he had been building the entire time.

The boy growled his warning at her, a plea escaping Noel's mouth as she asked Sylar to resist himself. Then she said something that stopped the boy cold. She brought up something he never wanted anyone but Roach to know, his truest moment of weakness. "No...I don't...Stop it! Who told you this!?" Sylar hissed at Noel, slamming her against the wall again. However his grip had weakened, those claws no longer pressed hard enough to cut the girl, his hand now the grip of a scared boy, a confused creature. "I didn't do anything! It did it! Someone told you about the monster right? How else could you know!?" The boy tried to defend himself, having been confronted with his inner demon honestly for the first time by anyone other than himself.

Sylar still had Noel within his grasp, he could end this fight right now, put an end to her blasphemous tongue. But he wasn't sure what to do, how did she know anything about him? Was she some sort of spy or detective? But even if someone followed him, they couldn't know these things, not his mother's words or Roach's teaching. You had to be there for that, the idea that Noel was a mutant hadn't crossed Sylar's confused thoughts just yet. The boy's tail swished violently behind him, a sign of his frustration as he made a demand. "How'd you know that."

He sputtered at her. It was terrifying, but there comes a point where the body's reaction to pain and adrenaline are just too much. If ever her heart was going to explode, it was probably now. Her hands and feet felt like large, clumsy blocks. She didn't feel any distinct pain yet. That was probably a bad sign.

Noel closed her eyes and tried to rally some spirit. She spit some of the pooling blood from her mouth and hoped it didn't ruin anything churchy.

Her voice was gravelly when she spoke. "You told me." And that was the the truth. If he hadn't grabbed for her, she wouldn't have had much ammo.

Not that Sylar could see the difference, but Noel's eyes went slightly out of focus. "I can see it. You struggle with the monster all the time." An involuntary shudder ran through her. More like she could experience it first hand since that's what his memories were. It wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't know the depths it came from. And seen some of the results.

She put her hands on Sylar's arms. He was younger than she'd originally guessed. It felt like she had him on the ropes, so the speak.

"I can see you and Roach." Noel had to stop and spit again. "He might have given up on humanity of any kind, but you haven't." Or at least he hadn't at the time. She wasn't a real psychic. Just a psychometric. "Roach bragged about eating his parents, for God's sake." Talk about a monster.

At least Sylar still had a parent.

A foggy light bulb went off in Noel's head. What if she could give this kid a second chance? What if she could tip the scales and keep him from giving in to that monster inside? It was a horrible risk. She didn't have any way to take a note or anything, but... it was worth a shot.

Noel put her hands on Sylar as best as she was able and directed his face toward hers so that she could look him directly in the eye. "Hey." She gurgled. "You're not a monster."

'Forget what your mom said about being a mutant. Forget the pain that she caused and your reaction. Forget.'

This woman wasn't making any sense, Sylar had told her nothing! These were his secrets, dark secrets he kept from everyone but Roach. And Roach wouldn't betray his trust, Roach was his friend and benefactor, a mentor even! Sylar's thoughts were getting hectic and muddy. His grip tightened on the girl as he ground his teeth and hissed at her. "I told you nothing! Stop confusing me!" She spoke of his inner monster, that dark feeling he had in his guts that made him think of morbid thoughts, made him hunger for what should never be eaten.

Unaware that this hazy feeling was Noel's power at work, Sylar's mind continued to lose it's stability, and his strength was beginning to fade as well. She spoke of Roach, and how he'd given into his darkness long ago. But Sylar hadn't...which was true. Sylar still resisted, his human heart didn't like the monster's thoughts. Sylar's claw around her throat began to weaken, the monster's strength replaced by a boy's grasp.

Noel said something, she tried to comfort Sylar but he couldn't really make it out anymore. The blood that pumped through his unique eyes had flushed out, and his entire world just sort of faded into black, but this darkness was somehow...warm. She told him to forget, and their roles reversed. Sylar's mind became prey to her psychometric ability as a key aspect of what had twisted Sylar into who he was began to change.

The cage that Sylar kept his monster in had always been missing a few bars, each removed by some experience the boy had. But Noel's ability was about to replace the oldest one, the day his Mother had abandoned him. His hand fell from her neck, dropping her as his entire world was gone for a brief moment, before a slightly different Sylar woke to replace the boy that had attacked Noel. His tail was limp, and his balance teetered as he fell for a knee. He couldn't find any words, as his mind sort of rebooted like a computer, and tried to find a file that was no longer there.

"Wha...Where am I?" Was all he could muster as he tried to figure out where he was and why he suddenly felt...more whole.

'Oh God. I did it.' The feeling of fear was instantaneous. Her head throbbed with every breath, every heartbeat, every thought. That must have been a doozy. A core piece of someone's history. She didn't do that normally. Not if she could help it.

The memorymancer's vision came back starting from a small point in the center and expanding outward from there. She had a lot more experience dealing with the aftereffects of her ability. She did not have a lot of experience with the crippling fear that came with Sylar's venom.

Noel started to shake. She'd had so much exposure and now that her ability's effects faded, the fear of the creature in front of her was like a fresh crushing wave of panic.

> "Wha...Where am I?"

Noel recoiled as if he'd said something far harsher. She remembered they'd just been talking about eating people and here she was backed into a corner and spitting blood in the pulpit of a church.

She tried to climb through the wall behind her and when that didn't work the brunette did the most logical thing. She screamed. If she was about to get brutally murdered, someone sure as hell was going to hear about it.

Both Sylar and Noel were suffering from mentally exhausting effects now, Sylar's mind warped and altered to the point of leaving him basically blank while the girl contested her own power mixed with intoxicating fear that made Sylar still seem as if he was some omnipresent boogeyman. Sylar took deep breathes, his instincts trying to reboot the boy's body and get him moving. Being dazed or weak was death for a predator, and that's all his body could muster with his mind so fogged.

He tried looking up to see where he was, his vision a wash of dulled grays, his world nearly blank save for that one shape in front of him, a girl? Who was she, and why was he here with her? But before he could put any pieces together the girl shrieked, and nearly jumped Sylar from his own flesh as the body stumbled backwards in surprise and tumbling onto the floor.

"Holy hell..what the crap..!?" He mumbled, his body able to come up with words even though his thoughts really didn't match them. He tried to climb to his feet and stand, but he still couldn't get the signals right, as if his brain was all mismatched by Noel's erasure of his history. He tumbled again and tried to look at her. Why the heck did he have a girl trapped in a room with him? Wait...wait! He remembered now, something about a break in, the pain of acid in his face. Whoever she was she'd attacked him! Or at least maybe she had?

"You...You! You sprayed acid on me! I...wait..."He stopped, lost again. Why was he here with her? Had he been chasing her? Oh right, he broke into this place for food. Wait why did he need food? Why hadn't he just gone home for food...for years? Too much to put together at the moment, he had to get away and clear his thoughts. He needed an entire days worth of sleep just to clear this weird hangover.
He stumbled again, finally standing and thinking of how to get out of here. "Stupid human! Stop screaming already!" He shouted at her, his previous rage having turned into a more human emotion, less one of seething vengeance and more straight frustration. "Spray me with freaking acid and now you'll call the whole dang police force on me!" He couldn't sprint off like he wanted so he started to just walk away.

"Freaking humans and..." He remembered attacking the girl, like this was bad. He could barely stay straight up and she was screaming, if somebody did come he could be in actual danger. He turned to look at her. "Just shut up and I'll leave ok? I don't even know where I am for christ's sake!" Sylar was seriously confused, Noel's power had practically knocked his monstrous side unconscious and left just the timid 16 year old boy Sylar behind.

Somewhere along the way Noel's screams morphed into something that started to make sense. "GET OUT! GET OUT!" She gripped her head and squeezed her eyes shut tight and did the only thing she had left for a defense. As fast as she could draw breath, she was shrieking.

Helpless. She was helpless.

Bugs plucked at her clothes and hair. No pepper spray. The shadows laughed at her. No baton. He was still here. No sword.

Why did the police take so long to respond?

Goosebumps marched along her arms. She was freezing.

Her eyes could not get any more shut so she pressed on them with her hands to make the images of him taking a swipe at her to go away. Those claws. Those teeth. It was horrible.