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Title: The Phoenix and the Turtle 1/1
Characters: Sandra, HRG, Claire, Others
Rating: PG-13 for themes and language
Type: Gen, AU
Disclaimer: Copyright of Heroes is held by the respective owners. No infringement is intended.
Spoilers: Through S3
Summary: Sandra confronts hard truths about her marriage.
Notes: This story is set in the same AU as “Perchance To Dream.”
Sandra Bennet dreamed her husband and daughter shared a crossword.
“What’s a seven letter word for love that transcends marriage?,” asked Claire.
“Courtly,” answered her father.
What’s an eight letter world for follower of a god?,” asked her father.
“Disciple,” answered Claire.
Suddenly, the dream form Noah Bennet noticed Sandra’s presence. He left his chair and began beating her. Despairing, she took his blows as a marble bust of Shakespeare on the bookcase recited…
…So between them love did shine,
That the turtle saw his right
Flaming in the phoenix’ sight:
Either was the other’s mine…
Death is now the phoenix’ nest;
And the turtle’s loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,
Leaving no posterity:--
’Twas not their infirmity,
It was married chastity…
The marble Bard’s poetry and her husband’s pummels resolved into a barking Pomeranian licking her face. “Who’s a good boy? You are, Mr. Muggles.” Shaking and shaken, Sandra sat up on her bed looking at the file she had fallen asleep with – the one on Adam Monroe that Elle had brought. She had read the contents thoroughly or thought she had. Earlier, though, she discovered the memo – the memo that fuelled her daymare.
Re: Musings On Immortality, Mandate, and Recruitment Criteria
Since our last meeting, I’ve refined my ideas for the recruitment policy. During my centuries of existence, I’ve had limited success meeting long-term goals. Why? Simply put, other people cease. Either they cease believing, or they cease living, unable to achieve the goals. I have no wish to address the latter, as death remains the best means of population control. However, we can address the former by integrating a particular facet of the human psyche into our recruitment criteria.
Obsession
If we focus the intensity of obsessive personalities, we won’t have to wonder about belief and follow-through. This is especially important in regard to our normal employees. Specials automatically possess the Mandate of Manifestation. If our partnership protocol is to be successful, normals must be made to feel they have an equivalent mandate, if not equivalent abilities. Allow the obsessive normal to embrace our mandate as his ability and balance will be maintained.
Sandra understood, the waking irony hitting her even more forcefully. Monroe, obsessed, ensured the people around him would be as well. Those obsessed people turned on Monroe, but kept his policies in place. When they bred immortal Claire to replace immortal Monroe, they put her in the care of the man who was the ultimate embodiment of the recruitment policy Monroe left behind – her Noah.
“Except he isn’t my Noah, anymore,” she realized, recalling a memory retrieved through a transfusion of her daughter’s blood…
Noah beat the man to a pulp in front of her after gaining a hard fought advantage. He said, “I won’t let you take her, Danko. I won’t let you take my Claire, my family.”
“Don’t use her as an excuse, Bennet,” Danko challenged. “Just kill me.”
“I’m not using her as an excuse,” answered Noah, as he slit Danko’s throat with a box cutter.
Danko’s blood had receded, as the Hatian had advanced…
Sandra knew that Noah spoke unguarded truths. He was not using Claire as an excuse. Moreover, he sincerely saw his singular daughter and his collective family as the same thing. She and Lyle were treasured by him for her – his mandate, his obsession, his Claire.
She knew Claire needed her father to be the way he was. She remembered a conversation they had shortly after learning about Monroe, immortality, everything…
“What’s up?,” Sandra asked.
“Reading Shakespeare,” replied Claire. “He wrote about immortal creatures and became immortal because of what he wrote, so I’m adding him to my new Eternity Collection.”
“It sounds like a brand of perfume,” said Sandra.
“Yeah,” laughed Claire. “I was going to call it Eternity Archive. But, Dad didn’t like it, that it sounded too Company.”
“He has a point,” said Sandra. “You should be yourself.”
“I should,” Claire answered pensively. “But, all this stuff made me realize that the Company is a part of that self. They gave me to Dad.” She flipped the pages of her book, as she spoke. “If I can accept who he is and what he’s done, maybe I’ll be strong enough to accept who I am and what I’ve done centuries from now…”
Again, Sandra was struck by the irony. Noah, chosen and shaped because of Monroe’s policy, became a coping mechanism Claire needed to avoid becoming Monroe. That sick bastard had inadvertently done something right. “But, what do I do,” Sandra asked herself, “knowing now that my marriage is so wrong?”
Characters: Sandra, HRG, Claire, Others
Rating: PG-13 for themes and language
Type: Gen, AU
Disclaimer: Copyright of Heroes is held by the respective owners. No infringement is intended.
Spoilers: Through S3
Summary: Sandra confronts hard truths about her marriage.
Notes: This story is set in the same AU as “Perchance To Dream.”
Sandra Bennet dreamed her husband and daughter shared a crossword.
“What’s a seven letter word for love that transcends marriage?,” asked Claire.
“Courtly,” answered her father.
What’s an eight letter world for follower of a god?,” asked her father.
“Disciple,” answered Claire.
Suddenly, the dream form Noah Bennet noticed Sandra’s presence. He left his chair and began beating her. Despairing, she took his blows as a marble bust of Shakespeare on the bookcase recited…
…So between them love did shine,
That the turtle saw his right
Flaming in the phoenix’ sight:
Either was the other’s mine…
Death is now the phoenix’ nest;
And the turtle’s loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,
Leaving no posterity:--
’Twas not their infirmity,
It was married chastity…
The marble Bard’s poetry and her husband’s pummels resolved into a barking Pomeranian licking her face. “Who’s a good boy? You are, Mr. Muggles.” Shaking and shaken, Sandra sat up on her bed looking at the file she had fallen asleep with – the one on Adam Monroe that Elle had brought. She had read the contents thoroughly or thought she had. Earlier, though, she discovered the memo – the memo that fuelled her daymare.
Re: Musings On Immortality, Mandate, and Recruitment Criteria
Since our last meeting, I’ve refined my ideas for the recruitment policy. During my centuries of existence, I’ve had limited success meeting long-term goals. Why? Simply put, other people cease. Either they cease believing, or they cease living, unable to achieve the goals. I have no wish to address the latter, as death remains the best means of population control. However, we can address the former by integrating a particular facet of the human psyche into our recruitment criteria.
Obsession
If we focus the intensity of obsessive personalities, we won’t have to wonder about belief and follow-through. This is especially important in regard to our normal employees. Specials automatically possess the Mandate of Manifestation. If our partnership protocol is to be successful, normals must be made to feel they have an equivalent mandate, if not equivalent abilities. Allow the obsessive normal to embrace our mandate as his ability and balance will be maintained.
Sandra understood, the waking irony hitting her even more forcefully. Monroe, obsessed, ensured the people around him would be as well. Those obsessed people turned on Monroe, but kept his policies in place. When they bred immortal Claire to replace immortal Monroe, they put her in the care of the man who was the ultimate embodiment of the recruitment policy Monroe left behind – her Noah.
“Except he isn’t my Noah, anymore,” she realized, recalling a memory retrieved through a transfusion of her daughter’s blood…
Noah beat the man to a pulp in front of her after gaining a hard fought advantage. He said, “I won’t let you take her, Danko. I won’t let you take my Claire, my family.”
“Don’t use her as an excuse, Bennet,” Danko challenged. “Just kill me.”
“I’m not using her as an excuse,” answered Noah, as he slit Danko’s throat with a box cutter.
Danko’s blood had receded, as the Hatian had advanced…
Sandra knew that Noah spoke unguarded truths. He was not using Claire as an excuse. Moreover, he sincerely saw his singular daughter and his collective family as the same thing. She and Lyle were treasured by him for her – his mandate, his obsession, his Claire.
She knew Claire needed her father to be the way he was. She remembered a conversation they had shortly after learning about Monroe, immortality, everything…
“What’s up?,” Sandra asked.
“Reading Shakespeare,” replied Claire. “He wrote about immortal creatures and became immortal because of what he wrote, so I’m adding him to my new Eternity Collection.”
“It sounds like a brand of perfume,” said Sandra.
“Yeah,” laughed Claire. “I was going to call it Eternity Archive. But, Dad didn’t like it, that it sounded too Company.”
“He has a point,” said Sandra. “You should be yourself.”
“I should,” Claire answered pensively. “But, all this stuff made me realize that the Company is a part of that self. They gave me to Dad.” She flipped the pages of her book, as she spoke. “If I can accept who he is and what he’s done, maybe I’ll be strong enough to accept who I am and what I’ve done centuries from now…”
Again, Sandra was struck by the irony. Noah, chosen and shaped because of Monroe’s policy, became a coping mechanism Claire needed to avoid becoming Monroe. That sick bastard had inadvertently done something right. “But, what do I do,” Sandra asked herself, “knowing now that my marriage is so wrong?”