Title: New Life
Author: ac_123
Chapters: 1/1
Crossed: Heroes/Star Trek
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Sylar, Kirk, Sylar/Kirk, Peter, Claire, Enterprise crew, mentions others
Summary: Collecting powers became boring...
A/N: Written for the st_xi_kink kink meme. The prompt was Sylar steals Spock's abilities, becomes Spock, and becomes obsessed with Kirk. There are major spoilers for the entire series of Heroes, so just be warned.


Collecting powers became boring.

That was what Sylar thought a week before he learned of the Vulcan Ambassador's visit to Earth. Collecting powers became boring because either everyone with a power had left the planet because their spokesperson--Claire Bennet, who was still as pretty and as feisty as she had been when he first saw her all those decades ago--struck a deal with Starfleet to start an extraTerran colony as long as they were given full independence from Starfleet and all other Terran governments, or all the "specials" on Earth (those few old timers who were stuck to Earth like dried gum to the underside of a table) had a power he already had. And why get the same power twice? That would be boring.

So his attentions turned to aliens. More specifically, the Vulcan Ambassador who was coming to Earth in a week. Sylar had heard about Vulcans. Extra-ordinary strength, hieghtened intelligence, and psychic abilities (mind melding...digging into someone else's mind...sounded like a fun way to fuck with people, don't you think?); Sylar had lost a few of those abilities over the years and the venture would get him out of his apartment for something other than groceries since he moved to Seattle.

The security was pitiful (then again, he could shapeshift) and he was a human bodyguard for Ambassador Sarek, his human wife Amanda, and their five-year-old son Spock before noon. And wasn't he the lucky one to search for Spock when the child managed to wander off in a state park?

And wasn't Spock adorable when Sylar's hand closed around his throat, cutting off his air supply and his ability to scream, when Sylar held him to the ground as he opened the child's skull.

"I didn't know Vulcans had green blood" Sylar whispered to the sobbing child beneath him as Spock took his last, fearful breaths. "I wonder if their brains are a different color too."

Turns out, they weren't. At least Spock's wasn't. Then again, Spock was half-human. So not only would finding all that power and taking it from him be easier than if Sylar had attacked his father--the original plan--but it made it easier to transform into the little shit when his pesky mother came looking for him.

"Oh, Spock, there you are!" Amanda said with overwhelming relief. Something in Sylar's stomach turned. He wasn't looking for another mother, thank you. He was looking for some time to get away before someone of authority found the body, connected it to Sylar, and stopped Amanda and Sarek from leaving the area because, holy crap, someone killed their kid.

Amanda picked Sylar up and carried him back to the sea of bodyguards. "I was worried about you. You should know better than to run away."

Sylar blinked at the younger woman. He leaned forward and pressed his now-pointed ear to her chest. He heard her heart beat against him, and there was something comforting about it.

Sylar's plan, had the real Spock's body not been found (which it wasn't), was to beat it once the happy family reached San Francisco. He ended up going to Vulcan.

**********

Sylar didn't want another mother. He had already had way too many (his biological one, whom he didn't remember; his adopted one, who still haunted the dark corners of his mind; and the fake one who had tried to manipulate his emotions and use him as a tool, like she had her real children). But Amanda was different. She was a mix of all three, it seemed. The role of her son came naturally to Sylar, as if Amanda were biologically his own. Her ability to illicit feelings that Sylar was far too unfamiliar with--love and safety and a despair most likely related to the fact that he was lying to this sweet woman--hit far too close to Angela Petrelli (who, ironically, had died of heart failure nearly six months after Sylar killed Nathan).

And her death hurt worse than when he stuck those scissors into Virginia.

**********

Working on the Enterprise was interesting, to say the least. Everyone on there was a reminder of a past that he felt more and more detatched from with each passing day.

Ensign Chekov was a bit Luke-ish. He was naive by means of the world, but intelligent in ways that shocked others. Sylar could remember the way Luke had manipulated him into getting him away from his mother. Before then, Sylar hadn't been used by anyone since...probably since Chandra Suresh and that first, ill-fated flirtation with Elle.

Sulu reminded Sylar of Hiro's annoying friend (whatever the fuck he was called...Sylar didn't care at this point, he'd been dead for over a hundred years). He was more serious than Hiro, but there was a light-heartedness in him that went with being the other guy, the sidekick, someone whose role was more-or-less just supporting others. He did a good job at it, though.

Scotty had to be Matt Parkman. He was hilarious, a good laugh, but Sylar wondered whether or not he meant to be that pathetically hilarious.

Uhura was like Claire. Both were intelligent--to a point--courageous, determined, and damn pretty. But their usefullness was limited. Claire was no longer useful once Sylar got her power. Uhura was no longer useful when she stopped being a chase and caved into Sylar at the Academy.

Leonard McCoy had to be Peter Petrelli. They were both assholes. They were both reactively emotional. But there was a connection Sylar felt to both of them. With Peter, it was their mutual Mommy issues. With McCoy, it was the loud-and-proud Captain, James T. Kirk.

James T. Kirk...

He was Mohinder.

He was Mohinder because James T. Kirk was the only other person Sylar had ever wanted. No, not wanted. They were the only two people Sylar needed. Needed, like air, or water or the powers needed to stifle that constant craving, that niggling hunger deep in his mind. They were the only two people Sylar wanted to touch without hurting, taste without killing, love without deception. (He did want Mohinder to know who he was. Really. He wanted the same with Jim. The whole murder spree thing just didn't fit into that hope.)

But Vulcan logic told Sylar that wanting James T. Kirk was not how a Vulcan should react. The active pursuing of someone was not what the repressed species Sylar had adopted did.

So his longing continued to thrum under his ears, along his jaw, and down his spine, checked and dampened so that Sylar stayed Spock.

**********

Fortunately, like Mohinder, Jim Kirk wanted Sylar back.

Sylar's first night with Jim was almost exactly the same as his first night with Mohinder. (The only difference was the location--disgusting motel room versus a clean starship's Captain's quarters.) Jim was the one who initiated the kiss, like Mohinder had. It was Jim who touched Sylar's chest, his shoulders, his arms, looking for hot skin, comforting flesh, something to hold onto and relate to after a hard trip. It was Jim who pushed Sylar to the bed, stripped him of his clothes, demanded that Sylar touch him in return. Jim mewled and moaned and twitched under Sylar's careful ministrations as he tested the waters, seeing what fit this partner the best, and it seemed all of Mohinder's sensitivities could be found on Jim as well.

"I think I love you" Jim whispered to Sylar after their third time together. All Sylar could think of was how Mohinder's accent had curled around those beautiful words.

Mohinder's gone Sylar reminded himself. You saw him die. You saw cancer steal him away from you. Sylar looked at Jim. He's your new beginning, your new life. Sylar rolled over and brougt his forehead to Jim's. "I believe I love you, too."

Jim Kirk smiled and, because he asked, Sylar melded minds with him.

**********

The Enterprise visited the last place Sylar had ever wanted to see.

The Specials' Colony; the one with Ambassador Claire and her lap dog, Peter Petrelli (really, really, he had to live too? Why?). They were having troubles with a neighboring planet and the Enterprise, being the closest ship, was sent out to keep the two planets from killing each other. (Though that would've been fun to watch.)

Peter and Claire's glares were unhidden when Sylar introduced himself as Spock, First Officer to the starship Enterprise and son of Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan. Still, they couldn't prove anything.

The incident was sprouted from Ambassador Claire's refusal to marry the prince of the adjacent planet. (Her heart belonged to her long-lost love, a human who had died back when Claire still lived on Earth. They had been with each other for over fifty years. It was tragic, it was sweet, it made Sylar want to cut her open again, just to see her scream.) Kirk and Sylar were sent over to the other planet to talk things out. The prince was adamant on his love for the beautiful and immortal Claire Bennet, a goddess in her own right. He claimed that together, their children would grow to become the most powerful beings in the world. What with her healing ability and his species' ability to hypnotize others.

"Hypnosis is illogical" Sylar said, inclinging his head a certain way to make it seem like he really did think that the concept of hypnosis was a load of bullshit. Really, though, he wanted to hear more. The dark hunger was stirring again.

Jim and Sylar spent the night at the prince's castle. Sylar, who was expecting Jim to crawl over, as he always did, and tease him until Sylar couldn't handle it anymore and pounce him, was severely disappointed with Jim's coldness in bed. Sylar didn't say anything about it.

Instead, once he made sure Jim was asleep, he snuck out, went to the prince's room, and claimed another power for his own.

**********

The prince had a lot of enemies, the mourners said. There were plenty of reasons why he and his guard should turn up dead, beheaded, disembowled, and a dozen other disturbing ways to die. And there was no reason to suspect the two visitors. They didn't know anything and they had just made a breakthrough on the issue of the prince marrying Ambassador Claire. They were released, and Claire thanked the two men for clearing up the difficult matter. She asked them and their crew to stay the night.

They feasted, they drank, they had a great time. By midnight, Scotty and McCoy got spectacularly drunk. Sulu and Uhura made fun of the two idiots. Chekov had passed out some time before. But Jim wasn't there. Sylar decided to go look for him.

Sylar eventually found Jim speaking quietly to Peter in an antechamber of the mansion Claire and Peter lived in. Sylar tried to hear what they were saying, but Jim must've sensed his presence, as he quickly pulled away to look at Sylar just as Sylar came into possible listening range.

"Hey Spock" Jim greeted. He walked up to Sylar, gave the faux-Vulcan a warm hug and a soft kiss. They felt inauthentic. Jim then whispered, hotly, "I thought it was inappropriate to ask you to fuck me last night... What do you say we go extra long tonight?"

And while that inner lie detector is telling Sylar not to trust Jim, those blue eyes and those warm hands turn him to goo. Sylar nods, and allows himself to be dragged away by his lover.

**********

The Enterprise was about to leave when Peter, Claire, and more and two dozen armed guards stopped the crew from boarding the ship.

"We have an arrest warrant for your First Officer, Captain Kirk" Peter said, eyes hard on Sylar. Sylar never wanted to kill the bastard more than he did right then.

"On what charges?" Kirk asked.

"Multiple accounts of murder and forgery" Peter said.

"What do you mean, murder?" Uhura jumped, her loyalty to her friend and exlover endearing. "Spock would never knowingly hurt anyone."

"Spock wouldn't" Peter said, head tilting with pride in a victory he'd yet to achieve, "but Sylar would."

"Who the hell is Sylar?" McCoy asked.

"Sylar is a mutated human, like the rest of the people on this planet" Claire said, stepping forward. "Originally born Gabriel Gray, in the year two-thousand and six, he began a murder spree that has lasted until the death of my suitor two nights ago and included the five-year-old child of Ambassador Sarek over twenty years ago."

How the fuck do they know that? was Sylar's only thought. No one found the body. Except for maybe crows and wild dogs.

"But Spock's right there, alive" Sulu stepped forward.

"No," Peter said, "that's Sylar. He assumed Spock's identity and lived as Spock for the past twenty-some years."

"Mister Petrelli," Sylar said, tilting his head forward, "continuing your unfounded theory that I was this murderer, would you elaborate as to why I would continue to live as one of my victims."

"I don't know" Peter said. "But you've done it before. Back then it was to get more powers. Our guess is that's the same motive."

Sylar raised his eyebrows. "Are you quite done, because if not I must protest the continuation of this illogical, if not absurd theory that you have formulated on rumors and circumstances."

"Give it up, Sylar" Peter said. "We have the real Spock's skeleton, we can prove it's him."

Sylar tilted his head. He imagined what it would be like to strangle the bastard before him. It was a good fantasy. "You can prove nothing where there is nothing to be proven. My name is Spock. I am not Sylar." Sylar turned to his ship mates. "You all agree that this theory is a all lies and unprovable theory, right?"

No one moved. No one knew what to say. Then Jim stepped forward, eyes never leaving Sylar's face. Sylar's heart began to calm, slow, as Jim, his love, his life, the one person who would never betray him or leave him, came up to him and wrapped his arms around him in an act they normally reserved for more private times. Sylar wasn't sure whether he should hug back or just let Jim embrace him. In the end, it didn't matter what he decided to do, because something pierced his neck, something that Peter Petrelli had been hiding, and Jim held Sylar still as an acid-like burning sensation ran through his veins, seeped into his bones, and transformed him. Sylar could feel his ears crumple, round, and return to their original shape. The hair in his eyebrows grew at an excellerated pace, making his forehead burn and his eyes water.

Sylar let out one last tortured scream before he passed out, his last thought being how he thought Jim would never betray him.

**********

It wasn't unusual for Sylar to wake up tied to something with tubes down his nose and needles in his arms. He'd awoken to that state...he'd lost count. What made this time different than the others was the fact that Jim Kirk was standing across from him, staring at him, more than obviously angry at him.

Spock noticed that he couldn't sense Jim's mind. Maybe it was the drugs in Sylar's body. He hoped so. (But all his hopes tended to fall flat on their faces...)

"Why?"

Jim looked down. "I always had the sense that you weren't like the other Vulcans, but I thought that was just because you were part human. After we melded, though, and I could...I guess I could read your thoughts..." Jim looked up, expression blank. "You killed a little kid."

Sylar stared at Jim. "I've killed a lot of people."

"Why?"

Sylar shrugged. "Some didn't deserve what they had. Some didn't want their abilities. Some got in my way. Some just didn't deserve to live."

"What gives you the right to determine that?" Jim asked.

"I'm special" Sylar said. The simplicity was disturbing.

"That doesn't mean anything" Jim said.

Sylar's head fell back and he closed his eyes. "Jim...help me."

"No."

Sylar's chest hurt from that word. "Why not?"

"You're a murderer."

"You've killed people."

"There's a difference."

"What is it?"

Jim opened his mouth, then closed. "I shouldn't have to argue with you."

"Becuase there isn't a difference. Not a big one, at least." Sylar opened his eyes. "Please, Jim, help me. I'll forgive you for betraying me if you let me free. We can run away and live together."

Jim shook his head.

"But you love me, don't you?"

Jim shook his head.

"You said you did."

"I loved the man you were pretending to be."

"I was being myself." He paused. "Just a more repressed version."

Jim didn't move.

"Jim...I haven't loved someone in years the same way I love you. I need you. We belong together." Sylar tried to lean forward. "You know we do, Jim. You know we're perfect for each other."

Jim didn't say anything. He turned around and he left.