[b]Rudy - The Pub - Sylar/Meghan/Nicolas/Hazel/Enrique[/b]

It was now or never. They had no more time to wait on Reggie and Enrique looked about ready to jump out there on his own. Rudy pulled the radio to his mouth and said, "It's time. Meghan, cover us as best you can, we're going to be four against seven for a minute." When the girl gave her confirmation, Rudy raced to the front door and put one hand on it. A sudden crippling moment of fear overtook him and Rudy angrily swore to himself. He took a second to calm himself and take a few deep breaths, managing to steel his resolve as Simon stepped up beside him. "We're going for the parked vehicle out front," he said, eyeing Simon. "Enrique and Ben, you two wait a moment for them to turn their attention on us before you head in the opposite direction. You need to get behind the truck further down the road." When the pair nodded, it was go time.

Rudy shoved through the front door and raced toward the parked car. He heard his heart pumping, his feet hitting the pavement, Simon's heavy breathing. Rudy felt like they were being incredibly loud, but somehow the men never heard them. Their attention was likely only on the hotel. Without a word to Rudy, Simon stood up from behind the trunk of the car and fired on the men. As the shouting began, Rudy consciously checked if his safety was on. He had tried to fire many times with it on and now he habitually checked it more often than he probably should. He then poked his body up from behind the car and was greeted with a sight of chaos. One of the men had fallen to the ground and the others were scrambling to retaliate on this ambush. Rudy felt the sting of something miss him at an incredible speed and he gritted his teeth. He managed to fire at a car in the hotel's parking lot, keeping one of the men pinned behind it. As another shot grazed the car Rudy was taking cover behind, he dropped back to the ground.

He looked down the road to see Enrique and Ben already behind cover as well. Strangely, Enrique had the truck's side door open and was milling about inside the front seat. This brought Rudy to a pause as he wondered what the other man was doing. [i]Crash![/i] Glass shattered and rained down upon Rudy. He grunted and pulled his attention away from Enrique to lay down more fire. 

"You keep one of those men alive!" Reggie's voice erupted from the radio.

As if to answer, Simon suddenly cried out, "Shit!" and dropped behind the car. Rudy dropped down next to him, worried.

"Did you get hit?"

Simon nodded. "Just my arm. Don't stop on my account!"

Rudy nodded, but his attention was again pulled toward Enrique, who was out of the truck now. With Ben's help, the pair were pushing the truck from its position and further toward the armed men. Rudy stepped over Simon and leaned toward the pair. "What are you doing?!" he yelled. Enrique didn't answer with words, instead letting Ben do all the pushing while he leaned out from behind the truck to fire his gun. Rudy shook his head at the display and took a look back over at the men. The four remaining had the attention on the truck, leaving Rudy a good opportunity to shoot. He guessed he would have to thank Enrique later.

As more shots were exchanged, Ben suddenly lost control of the truck and it moved forward without him. Enrique managed to stay behind the vehicle, but Ben was left without cover. The boy stood helplessly in the middle of the road, like a deer caught in headlights. "Get down, Ben!" Rudy yelled, prompting the boy to do little more than turn toward him. As Rudy repeated himself, a bullet punctured Ben's side and sent him sprawling to the ground. Rudy's eyes went wide in shock, and all he could do was stare.

"Someone...!" the boy yelled weakly, but the sound of the truck slamming into the parked car across the road drowned out his voice. Enrique rushed out from behind the truck and managed to gun the man behind the car down as he was still reeling from the impact. A stray bullet from either Sylar or Meghan caught the last man in the head and all was suddenly silent.

It felt like an eternity before Luke's voice came on the radio. "Luke speaking. We got the guys trying to come in from behind. One of them only has a bullet in the leg, so he's still alive."

Rudy slowly stood to his feet, his eyes still on Ben. The boy was speaking quietly, mumbling. Enrique looked across the street and caught Rudy's eye. There they stood for a moment, before Rudy spoke into the radio. "Rudy speaking. Simon was shot in the arm. Ben is down."

"Reggie speaking. Is Ben okay? Does he need treatment?"

"Ben, uh..." Rudy paused, licking his lips. "I don't think so. You need to get here now, Reggie. We'll need you too, Luke."

Beside him, Simon groaned. "Fucking shit."

~~~

They stood around Ben. Rudy, Bex, and Enrique. Jerry had the boy's head in his lap. Ben had died seconds earlier.

[i]I'm sorry[/i], Ben had said. His last words. Rudy had shook his head. There was nothing for Ben to be sorry about. If anything, it was Rudy's fault, for not taking care of the kid. He shouldn't have even been allowed to leave the store. The boy was too green, too unsuited to this environment. Hell, Rudy himself was barely suited to this environment. No wonder Ben died under his care.

"Let me see him," said a voice. Rudy looked up to find Reggie and his group standing off to the side. Bex quietly stepped aside to allow Reggie to see. The men behind him shook their heads at the sight of Ben, his body laying in a pool of blood. Phon took off his cap and held it against his chest. Reggie kneeled down beside the boy, his eyes examining Ben's limp body. "I don't blame any of you," said Reggie. "This was not supposed to happen, and Ben was the newest of us. He was the most inexperienced." Despite his words, the pain behind them was apparent. Reggie cared deeply for his scouts. Taking a deep breath, Reggie placed a hand on Jerry's shoulder. "I'd like to take him back to Outpost, but we can't carry him through the city. I need you to find a proper burial place for him. Somewhere nearby." As Reggie stood, Rudy noticed him looking off to the side. Reggie couldn't stand to look at Ben any longer.

"Where are the others?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Inside," Rudy responded. "Luke's tending to Simon with the people from the hotel. The guy we got alive is inside too."

"Phon, Thomas, and Rudy, you three come with me. The rest of you take care of these bodies. We can't leave them lying dead in the middle of the road." Reggie looked around, his eyes on the end of the street. "Biters might stop by as well. Sylar and Meghan are making some noise to draw them away, but we never assume they aren't lurking."

They fell in line behind Reggie- Thomas, Phon, and Rudy- as he headed into the hotel. Luke met them at the door to the kitchen. "Simon will be fine," he said. "The guy's in the room down the hall." Luke passed Reggie a key. "The girl asked that you avoid making a mess."

They stepped into Room 106 to find a man tied up on the ground at the foot of a bed. His leg was bandaged, but his thighs were tied together and his hands were clasped behind him with duct tape. He stared them down as they entered the room. Reggie closed the door behind them and an uncomfortable silence followed. As the room's windows were boarded up, only a few tiny slits of light entered the room, allowing Rudy to only see the expressions of the men beside him. Phon held a stony face of grim determination, but Thomas looked almost depressed, his face downcast. Reggie sat in a wooden chair in the corner of the room and moved it to face the captured man.

"Who are you?" Reggie asked. Silence. The man looked away from Reggie, his gaze settled on the bathroom door. "Where do you come from?" Once again he was met with silence. Reggie let this continue for a moment before he stood up and dug his foot into the man's hurt leg. He cried out, but still didn't answer. Reggie then brought the chair closer and sat back down, his arm beginning to rest on his rifle.

"Is your name Tyler?" the man suddenly asked.

Reggie furrowed his brow in confusion. "I'd like answers before I give out answers."

The man sneered. "A group of armed men like yourselves... maybe you're Haywood? No..." He squirmed against his binds. "Haywood's not a threat. Not to us. They managed to take out that shit gang leader and made things a whole lot easier for us. If you guys operated in the city, we'd know who you are."

Reggie leaned forward, looking interested. "That's all you are, then. A gang. Your rivals are gone, so you believe you run the show now, is that right?" When he was met with silence, Reggie continued. "Clearly that's untrue, as you are the ones who lost today. Still, you've established yourselves as a threat, so we can't very well ignore you now. If you give us some info to lead us to your friends, you may yet live."

The man squirmed again. "...You serious?"

"I always keep my word."

Another stretch of silence followed. In the dim light, Rudy could see that the man was considering the proposal. "... The art museum. There's about thirty of us, not including the people who died today. We-" [i]BANG![/i]

Thomas stood before the man, a pistol pointing at his head. He had shot him dead. Rudy hadn't even seen him step forward. "What the fuck did you just do?" Reggie exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Phon stepped forward, pulling out his own gun, but Thomas calmly holstered his gun and turned toward Reggie. He was facing away from the windows, so Rudy couldn't see the expression on his face.

"You were going to let this man live?" Thomas asked. "A man who tried to kill your men?"

Reggie's hands balled into fists. "He was going to tell us about his group!"

"The New Orleans Museum of Art. If he meant anything else, he would have been more specific."

"He didn't have to die! I gave this man my word-"

Thomas stepped forward, not allowing Reggie to intimidate him. "That man was evil. Nothing more than some despicable raider." He looked over, giving both Rudy and Phon a pointed look. "Raiders took my daughter from me. Katie." Thomas paused, but eventually a sob escaped him. "Raiders took the most important thing in this world from me. They're evil, Reggie, and I can't allow a single one to live." The man broke down further and sat down on the bed. He began to sob, his hand rubbing at his eyes. The three other men in the room could only stare.