The sun rises over the skyscrapers of New York.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "Everyone is special in their own unique way. There are those who want to be special and dream of how to try to better themselves. And there are those who want to be special, and will do just about anything to get it. They might do it out of jealousy, or resentment, or out of a need for power. But then, there are a select few who have something special about them that no one else has, what most could only dream of having themselves. But not everyone who is special wants to be. There are those who would just like to live normal lives, to be just like everyone else. Those who cannot see what they have is a gift."
BEEMAN WAREHOUSE - NEW YORK CITY - TUESDAY, 7:30 P.M.
A stop sign at at the side of an old dirt road to an enormous, deserted warehouse. A full moon shines in the star-filled sky.
The old warehouse lies outside of a deserted town. The sign on the front lawn reads BEEMAN WAREHOUSE.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "To them, it is the worst thing they could have ever asked for."
Three people run outside, all familiar-looking. A middle-aged man with horn-rimmed glasses...A young blonde woman...A young Indian man with dark hair...
Noah Bennet struggles as Mohinder Suresh keeps a firm grip on his arms. Tracy Strauss quickly follows them out of the open doorway.
NOAH: "No!! Let me go!! We need to go back inside!!"
MOHINDER: "That's not what he said! We have to go NOW!!"
NOAH: "I'm not leaving!! Claire!! CLAIRE!!"
BOOM! An explosion from inside breaks the door off its hinges and shatters the glass from the first floor windows.
BOOM! Another explosion knocks out the power to the warehouse. Mohninder grabs Noah by the collar and pulls him away.
MOHINDER: "NOW!!"
As he yells, Mohinder throws Noah away and he is tossed through the air like a rag doll. He soars back a good fifty feet before hitting the ground, hard. Noah grunts with pain as Mohinder turns to Tracy. Tracy stumbles and nearly falls over. She holds her hands up, with an icy covering over her fingertips. The ice around her fingers is melting quickly and her skin looks cracked.
TRACY: "Something's wrong..."
MOHINDER: "MOVE!!"
Too late.
BOOM!! Another explosion erupts and completely destroys the warehouse from the inside out. The explosion is powerful enough to knock Mohinder and Tracy backwards and sends them flying. The explosion engulfs over Mohinder and he disappears from sight. Tracy, however, is knocked out away from the fire by the force of the explosion. She hits the ground near Noah and she GRUNTS as she hits the ground.
NOAH: "Mohinder!!"
As the smoke starts to clear, there is a bright white bubble of energy that grows out from the warehouse beneath the explosion. The bubble gets bigger, higher, and a loud SCREAM tears through the night sky. The scream is distorted, inhuman...familiar.
TRACY: "Peter?"
SARAH BROWNE - 25 years old, blonde and beautiful - lies on her side on her bed, asleep. She's wearing a black robe over her nightgown and is tucked under her blanket. There's a medicine cup and a bottle of medicine set on her bedside table. A dim white light shines on her face. Sarah stirs and awakens, groggily opening her eyes. She lifts her head up, looks at her bedroom window ahead, and looks puzzled. Sarah gets out of her blanket, gets out of her bed, and walks to the window. She walks over and stands in front of the window. The white energy bubble is visible in the distance, far past her neighborhood. Sarah stares in shock.
Noah starts to get up to his feet and tries to run towards the demolished warehouse.
BOOM!! The full force of the explosion erupts from under what was left of the warehouse. Noah and Tracy shut their eyes and turn their heads away, as the SCREAM rings out, even louder than the explosion. The light of the energy bubble that shines through the explosion shines brighter...brighter... Tracy shuts her eyes from the bright light and turns her head aside.
NOAH: "CLAIRE!!"
FWOOSH!!
All is silent. The explosion has disappeared entirely. The light is gone. The energy bubble is gone. The inhuman SCREAM has already stopped. Even the burnt grass and ground of the explosion has no heat. Noah and Tracy open their eyes and look back at the enormous hole in the ground, which was where the warehouse had stood. Lying on the ground, just a few feet in front of them, is Mohinder. His eyes are shut, his clothes are torn and he is mildly burned, but he isn't actually hurt. Mohinder sets his hands on the ground, pushes himself up and grimaces as he looks at the duo in front of him.
TRACY: "You're hurt..."
MOHINDER: "No...I'm all right...Just stunned, is all."
Noah stares ahead at the enormous crater in the ground. He looks livid.
NOAH: "You..."
Standing in front of them, hands behind is back, is a lone man with a hooded black cloak that covers over his black clothes. The man has a solid mask on over his head, not revealing anything about his face. Noah glares.
NOAH: "What did you do?"
The masked man simply lowers his head.
NOAH: "Where is Claire? What just happened?"
The bottom of the man's feet shine with white light. The light under his feet beams up, making a white aura glow around him, and then he disappears. Noah stands up and steps towards the crater. Tracy and Mohinder also stand up.
NOAH: "Where are you?"
Noah looks around to find someone, anyone...He can't.
NOAH: (shouts angrily) "WHERE ARE YOU?!?"
Mohinder and Tracy walk over to the crater and looks down.
TRACY: "Oh, God..."
MOHINDER: "NOAH!!"
Noah turns around and notices the two standing at the edge of the crater. Mohinder jumps down and falls over a good hundred feet to the ground below. Regardless of the drop, he lands on all fours, unharmed. Mohinder rushes over and to a large pile of rubble. A lone Caucasian hand sticks out of the rubble.
TRACY: "My God, they're buried alive..."
Mohinder grabs the debris and tosses piece after piece away, from burnt pipes to broken chunks of walls or ceilings.
MOHINDER: "Matt?!? Claire?!?"
Mohinder grabs another chunk of debris, lifts it up, and pushes it away. He resumes digging.
MOHINDER: "Hiro?!? Peter?!? Somebody, please...If you can, answer me!!"
NOAH: "I'm going down there!!"
TRACY: "Yeah, right. You jump down there, you'll break your legs, if you're lucky. You get down there in one piece, you'll never be able to lift that debris off with Mohinder."
NOAH: "I'm not just going to stand up here and wait until..."
Noah notices Tracy. She grimaces and looks at her hands. Tracy has broken out into a cold sweat and the icy coating on her hands has cracked into her skin.
NOAH: "What happened to you?"
MOHINDER: (yells up) "I've found someone!!"
Noah and Tracy turn back and look down in the crater. Mohinder climbs onto part of the debris and lifts the last piece of rubble off of a familiar young man, his clothes are burnt and shredded, and bleeding from his shoulder, chest, abdomen and forehead.
MOHINDER: "Oh, my God...Peter."
In a large doctor's office, KRISTEN MEYER - 24 years old, with shoulder-length brunette hair and brown eyes - sits behind her desk. She holds her phone to her ear.
KRISTEN: "I'm sorry, sir. Dr. Miller is not here."
Kristen pauses for a few moments, listening. She shakes her head.
KRISTEN: "No, he's not taking any appointments right now. He's on vacation for the next two weeks."
Kristen pauses for a few moments, listening.
KRISTEN: "Well, I can get you an appointment to see Dr. Cartwright tomorrow morning at ten. We got a cancellation about an hour ago."
Kristen pauses for a few moments. She picks up her pen.
KRISTEN: "Okay, go ahead."
Kristen listens for a moment and then she writes down on her note pad.
KRISTEN: "All right, then. I've scheduled your appointment with Dr. Cartwright and she will see you tomorrow at ten a.m." (pauses) "Thank you. Good night."
Kristen hangs up the phone, as a portly, bearded 30 year old man, HARVEY, walks over to her.
HARVEY: "Hey, Kristen. Did you see it?"
KRISTEN: "See what? I've been on the phone the last ten minutes."
HARVEY: "Aw, man, you should've seen it! It was incredible! I looked outside and there was this huge bubble of light in the distance, near the old water tower."
Kristen raises an eyebrow.
KRISTEN: "Have you been sneaking outside to grab another bottle again, Harv?"
HARVEY: "I'm serious, Kris. I recorded got the whole thing on my cell phone."
KRISTEN: "All right. Fine. Show me the video."
Harvey smiles and picks up his cell phone from his jacket's pocket. He walks over to Kristen, holds up the cell phone and clicks on a video option on his phone's screen. On the screen of the cell phone, it plays footage of the energy bubble. It is seen in the distance through a window of the doctor's office. Kristen looks closer at the footage, stunned.
KRISTEN: "Wow..."
HARVEY: (smiles) "Told you, Kris...Incredible."
Kristen looks at Harvey and smiles.
A 24 year old, beautiful African-American nurse, DAWN WILLIAMS, stands in a hallway. She sips the last of her coffee from her styrofoam cup and then she throws it in the trash. Dawn walks over to the front desk and to a mid-20s, blonde receptionist, MANDY.
MANDY: "Hey, are you okay?"
DAWN: "Yeah, I'm fine. Just can't wait to get home."
MANDY: "Well, your shift's almost over. At least it's been a slow night tonight."
DAWN: "Yeah, but the night's not over yet. Did I get any messages?"
Mandy shakes her head.
MANDY: "Sorry, girl. Don't worry. She'll call you back. You know Jackie."
DAWN: (glumly) "Yeah...I do."
The doors slide open and Noah rushes in, carrying Peter's bleeding body in his arms.
NOAH.: "I NEED A DOCTOR!! NOW!!"
Dawn rushes over to Noah's direction as Mandy picks up her phone and pushes a button.
MANDY: "We need a doctor at the north entrance right now! We need a cart!"
Tracy follows H.R.G. inside and Dawn stands in front of them.
DAWN: "My God, what happened?"
NOAH: "I don't know. We found him like this."
Dawn feels Peter's neck, as a bald doctor rushes towards them from the other end of the hall. A nurse follows the doctor, pushing an empty cart with her.
DAWN: "Oh, no. He's not breathing."
Dawn turns around to the approaching doctor and nurse.
DAWN: "Doctor!"
Dawn turns back to Tracy and Noah.
DAWN: "What's his name?"
TRACY: "Peter. Peter Petrelli."
The doctor takes Peter from Noah's arms and lies him down on the medical cart.
DOCTOR: "Let's get him to the E.R."
The Doctor, Dawn and the second nurse rush down the hall and push Peter with them. Noah and Tracy stare ahead and watch as Peter is wheeled into the open doors to the E.R.
On the hospital's third floor, Noah sits on a chair in the waiting room next to Tracy. Tracy rubs her hands, which are normal again.
NOAH: "I know you're still in pain. You've been doing that for the last half hour."
TRACY: "Don't worry, I'm all right."
She looks at her watch and notices the time. TRACY SIGHS and shakes her head.
TRACY: "It's been over three hours. You'd think they would've told us something by now."
NOAH: "He must still be in surgery. He did almost die back there."
TRACY: "But that's what I don't understand. When I last saw Peter, he could heal himself. Why didn't he heal himself back there?"
NOAH: "I wish I could say. By the time I got there to join the rest of you, I was taken outside as quickly as I got in. You still haven't told me exactly what happened back there."
TRACY: "I told you everything I know. I went into the sub-basement, like we planned. Something hit me from behind and knocked me out. When I woke up, the man with the mask was picking me up and telling me to get out. He said the whole building was about to explode. I only saw him and Suresh. I didn't see anyone else there."
NOAH: "But you heard them. You said you heard talking in the next room."
TRACY: "I only heard Claire. She kept saying, 'stay calm, stay calm. It's all right.'" (sighs) "I have no idea who she was talking to."
NOAH: "By the sound of things, it was someone with an unstable ability. It could explain why the building blew up."
TRACY: "If there was someone there with an unstable power, I couldn't see him...or her. Claire sounded concerned. I didn't..."
Noah's pager beeps twice. He looks at the number on his beeper. Noah looks up at a puzzled Tracy.
TRACY: "What is it?"
NOAH: "What we've been waiting for. I'll be right back."
Noah stands up, walks away from the waiting room and to the elevators across the hall.
Noah stands outside of the enormous hospital. He is holding his cell phone to his ear.
NOAH: "I know you want to be here, but Peter is still in surgery. He's been in there for nearly four hours now."
Noah pauses and listens to the other end. He shakes his head, frustrated.
NOAH: "No, he isn't. I don't know why he's not healing on his own. Peter's been able to heal from this sort of thing before, but he's not anymore. He was nearly dead when Mohinder found him and we were lucky enough to find a truck and get him to this hospital."
Noah pauses, listening to the other end of the phone. NOAH SIGHS and lowers his head.
NOAH: "No...No, I don't know what happened. They were already in the warehouse, I was sent into the sub-basement to join them... Suddenly, Mohinder and Tracy come running up to me, screaming that the place is going to explode. Suresh forced me upstairs, got us outside, and the whole place exploded. When we looked back at it, it was just a crater half the size of a football field and over a hundred feet deep. I just..."
Noah stops himself and lowers his head.
NOAH: "I didn't see Claire. I don't know where she was in there when the explosion went off. I just know she was inside. But we didn't see her down there. We've been waiting at the hospital since we brought Peter in."
Noah pauses and listens to the other end of the phone. He shakes his head.
NOAH: "No...No. Mohinder's stayed back at the crater. He's still digging in what rubble there is left. He thinks they might be under there."
Noah pauses. He listens for a few moments. Though we don't hear who he's talking to or what they said, whatever it is makes Noah even more upset. He looks away, livid.
NOAH: "I don't care. You know what was at stake. My daughter is missing, your family is in danger, Sylar is missing... I don't know what is going on yet, but I intend to find out. But I am not giving up on my family. You can do whatever the hell you want."
Noah hangs up his phone and puts it in his pocket.
Inside of a large prison compound, policeman GEOFFREY HART - 29 years old, bald, African-American, and with a thin but lean physique - walks down the hallway of the lower level. Geoffrey walks by and checks in on each prisoner one at a time, cell by cell.
GEOFFREY: "Four-o-two...Four-o-three...For-o-four..."
Geoffrey stops at cell 405, and he looks inside. The cell is vacant. Geoffrey flips the switch on his headset, switching it on.
GEOFFREY: "This is Hart. Tell me you have prisoner eight-zero-one-zero in another cell."
BASE OFFICER (on headset): "Negative, Officer Hart. Prisoner eight-zero-one-zero was last seen asleep in cell four-o-five an hour ago."
GEOFFREY: "Well, he's not there anymore. Send out a search for the prisoner, possible breakout in progress..."
A SCREAM of horror echoes out from down the hallway. Geoffrey draws his gun from the holster on his belt and runs down the hall to the southern side.
GEOFFREY: "I need back up to lower level two, right now!"
Geoffrey steps back as a SCREAMING POLICEMAN is sent flying from the right side of the hall and lands fifty feet across the hallway. Two gunshots ring out, and then another, unseen POLICEMAN SCREAMS in agony.
GEOFFREY: "Shots fired, repeat, shots fired! Officer down, officers in danger! I need back-up in here now!"
Geoffrey runs down the hallway and over to the southern end of the hallway. He turns to the right and sees only a dead police officer on the floor, with blood oozing from his waist. Geoffrey crouches down, gets a closer look, and puts his hand over his mouth.
GEOFFREY: "Two officers down...Officer Chandler has been cut in half at the waist."
A man's glove-covered left hand reaches down and is set on Geoffrey's shoulder.
MAN: "Don't turn around. Turn off your headset."
Geoffrey pauses for a moment. He glares as he reaches up and turns his headset off.
GEOFFREY: "Prisoner eight-zero-one-zero."
MAN: "Not anymore...You were only one of the two people who actually looked out for me in this dump. I owe you a lot."
The man's other hand suddenly darts out and stabs a syringe into Geoffrey's neck. Geoffrey stiffens as the man injects a blue liquid from the syringe into his neck. Geoffrey's eyes roll back in his head and he passes out as he falls to the ground. The lean man behind Geoffrey, whose face is not seen, kicks Geoffrey over and onto his back.
MAN: "That's why you're going to be the only survivor down here."
The man turns around and walks off. Geoffrey remains unconscious as he is left alone. He doesn't hear the prisoners' cell doors open, one by one...or hear the SCREAMS of fear and anguish that follow.
Tracy sits on a seat in a hospital waiting room, holding a styrofoam cup filled with water in her hands. The water in her cup starts to freeze solid. Tracy shakes her head.
TRACY: "Wonderful."
She sets her cup down on the table nearby and looks startled. Tracy's hands are coated with ice and the ice is melting, dripping water. Tracy pulls her hands away and stares at them.
VOICE: "Are you okay?"
TRACY GASPS as she looks up and quickly puts her hands in her jeans pockets. Standing in front of her is STANLEY FINGER - 26 years old, with dark brown hair and glasses. He smiles sheepishly at Tracy.
STANLEY: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
TRACY: "Oh, you didn't scare me. I'm fine, really. It's just, uh...been a long night."
STANLEY: "I just got in here. I came here to visit my father. What about you?"
TRACY: "I have a friend in here. He was in an accident."
STANLEY: "You mean like a car accident?"
TRACY: "I'm not sure what happened to him."
STANLEY: "I didn't mean to pry. It's just nice to see someone else in the hospital. I've been coming here the past two weeks and you're the first person I've seen in the waiting room. Not that you really want to see anyone in here, because it's a hospital and all, but..."
TRACY: "Yeah, I know what you mean."
STANLEY: "Well, I think I've bothered you long enough. It'd better go make one of my last visits here last."
TRACY: "Oh, is your father getting out soon?"
Stanley frowns.
STANLEY: "Not exactly. He's got brain cancer. Kind of runs in the family."
TRACY: "Oh, I'm sorry."
STANLEY: "It's not your fault. I hope your friend feels better. I'm sure he'll be better sooner than you think." (nods) "Good night."
TRACY: "Good night."
Stanley walks away from the waiting room, turns around the corner to the left side of the hallway, and walks away. TRACY SIGHS and pulls her hands out of her pockets. She holds them up and looks at them. They're normal again and have dried.
TRACY: "What is this?"
Noah stands outside and looks at the number on his ringing cell phone. He pushes the talk button and holds his cell phone to his ear.
NOAH: "Suresh, tell me you've got some good news."
A lone blue truck is parked in the distance. Mohinder stands at the edge of the enormous crater that used to be the warehouse, and his hands soaked with dirt and grease. He holds his cell phone to his ear.
MOHINDER: "I've searched that place from top to bottom. There's no sign of them. They're all gone."
NOAH (on the phone): "What do you mean, gone?"
MOHINDER: "Just as I mean, gone. There's not a trace of them. They're all missing. Matt, Hiro, Ando... I couldn't find any trace of them."
NOAH (on the phone): "They can't be dead. Claire would've survived those explosions. Where is she?"
MOHINDER: "I don't know. I couldn't find Claire, I couldn't find anyone. If she's alive, she's left here. I don't know what happened to the others. Either the explosion left nothing of their remains or..."
NOAH (on the phone): (interrupts) "Let's not think the worst of them just yet, Suresh. As long as we don't see any bodies, let's try to think positive about all of this. Tell me what happened in the warehouse."
Mohinder stands still, pauses. He looks upset.
MOHINDER: "I'm not sure...I don't really remember much of what's happened. I remember the masked man touched my head and when he let me go, I was in a bit of a daze. The next thing I knew, he told me to get out."
NOAH (on the phone): "Wonderful. Sounds like he's messed with your memory. The only one who may remember is Peter, and he's not going to talk any time soon. What about any traces of Sylar or that masked man we met?"
MOHINDER: "Nothing new for either men. Sylar is on the loose, colder and more dangerous than ever. I've never seen such hate in a man's eyes before."
Noah looks upset.
NOAH: "And that masked man, whoever he was, just disappeared into thin air right in front of us. If he hadn't left, maybe he could've..."
Noah suddenly stops. His angry expression fades and he turns away in realization.
MOHINDER (on the phone): "Noah? What is it?"
NOAH: "You didn't see it."
MOHINDER: "What? See what?"
NOAH (on the phone): "The energy bubble. When you were on the ground, you were covered in the explosions and you didn't see the bubble through the explosion. It was white and made of energy. It happened during the warehouse was being destroyed."
Mohinder stops and looks stunned as he realizes what H.R.G. means.
MOHINDER: "There was white energy around the man, like an aura, just before he disappeared. You don't think..."
Noah holds onto his cell phone tightly.
NOAH: "No, I don't. I know. I need you to check and see if there are any clues he may have left behind, something we could use to track him down."
MOHINDER (on the phone): "I don't know. The man has the ability to teleport by thought. Even if we found him, he could get away any time he wanted."
NOAH: "That's not going to keep me from searching for Claire or the others. I don't care what that masked man can do. I'm going to do everything that I can to find them, do you understand me?"
Mohinder looks ahead. He stops and just stares out into the distance.
NOAH (on the phone): "Mohinder? What is it?"
MOHINDER: "I think our masked friend has just left a clue behind for me to find. Stay at the hospital and call me back when you know more about Peter's condition."
Mohinder hangs up his cell phone. He gets to the truck and unlocks the front seat.
Noah hears the dial tone on his phone.
NOAH: "Mohinder? Damn it, answer me! Mohinder?!?"
Noah hangs up the phone and grunts with frustration. He turns and walks back to the hospital's sliding entry/exit doors.
Mohinder drives his truck down a lone stretch of dirt road. He stares ahead at a grassy hill. Shining up behind the hill is a beacon of white light, shining in the distance.
Noah walks over and sits on a chair next to Tracy.
TRACY: "Where's Mohinder?"
NOAH: "He was at the remains of the warehouse. He said he spotted a clue and then hung up. I think he's found something."
TRACY: "And the others? Claire, Hiro..."
NOAH: "Nothing. Not a trace of them...any of them."
TRACY: (sighs) "I'm sorry. I know how much you care about Claire. That explosion...It must be driving you crazy, not knowing where she is."
NOAH: "She's alive, Tracy. That's all that matters. I'll find her and bring her back home safely, mark my words."
Tracy nods and turns her head aside.
TRACY: "Yeah."
Noah looks over at Tracy. He glances down at her hands and narrows his eyes.
NOAH: "You're bleeding."
Tracy looks down at her hands and GASPS. She has a thin coating of ice around her hands and there are thin cracks on her palms. Blood oozes from the cracks and the blood suddenly stops flowing as it freezes.
TRACY: "What's happening to me?"
NOAH: "Wipe that frozen blood and ice off of your hands. I'll go see if I get you a first-aid kit."
Noah stands up and notices a mid-50s, mustached doctor - DR. LIEBER - approaching them. He taps Tracy's shoulder and she turns to the doctor. Tracy quickly tucks her hands in her jeans pockets and tries not to flinch.
DR. LIEBER: "Excuse me...Did you come in with Peter Petrelli?"
NOAH: "Yes, we did. How is he?"
DR. LIEBER: "To be perfectly honest, he's lucky he's still alive. He's out of surgery, but his condition is still serious. He has a dislocated shoulder, three cracked ribs, a broken wrist and a broken ankle. What exactly happened to him?"
NOAH: "We don't know. We found him like that, down at the Beeman Warehouse."
DR. LIEBER: "Well, we'll need to keep him in here for a few days to let him rest. You should be able to take him home by Wednesday."
TRACY: "Can we see him?"
DR. LIEBER: "I'm afraid not. Visiting hours ended hours ago and he needs to rest. You can come back tomorrow morning at nine, but that's the earliest I can let you..."
TRACY: (interrupts) "Just for a minute. Please?"
Dr. Lieber looks at them for a moment. He SIGHS and nods.
DR. LIEBER: "All right, all right. But please, make it quick."
NOAH: "We understand. Thank you."
Dr. Lieber nods and turns around. He walks down the left side of the hall and Noah and Tracy follow him.
Noah and Tracy stop at room 333. Dr. Lieber opens the door and steps inside. He nods his head to his right, motioning for them to step into the room.
Noah and Tracy step forward and look ahead at Peter. Peter is lying on a bed, tucked in by a black blanket. His wounds are bandaged and he's hooked up to monitors that read out his pulse and heart rate.
NOAH: "Excuse me, doctor...Can I have a moment alone with him, please?"
DR. LIEBER: "Yes, of course."
TRACY: "We'll be right outside."
Noah nods and watches as Tracy and Dr. Lieber step out of the room.
Mohinder stands by a search light, which has been shut off. There is a large brown paper bag taped to the searchlight. Mohinder looks puzzled and steps towards the searchlight. The name MOHINDER is typed on it in big, bold letters. Mohinder takes the bag off and he opens the back of it. He pulls another bag out from the envelope and looks at the front of it. Mohinder stares at the bag, stunned by what he sees.
MOHINDER: "Who are you?"
Noah stands alone by Peter's bed and he stares at him. Peter is barely breathing and his pulse and heart rate on his monitors are very low.
Noah just stares at Peter for a few moments, looking grim.
Noah lowers his head and SIGHS deeply. He looks at the chart clipped on the end of Peter's bed. Noah looks puzzled as he sees an envelope clipped to the clipboard over Peter's medical chart.
Noah picks up the envelope and sees NOAH typed on the front of it in big, bold letters. Noah opens it, pulls the folded-up letter out of the envelope, and stares at the message inside. Noah glares at what is written.
Upon closer look on the letter, we see a typed-up message printed on it: KIRBY PLAZA - ONE WEEK, MIDNIGHT.
Noah stares at the letter, clearly upset. He makes his hand into a fist and crushes the letter.
Back in the prison compound, the mid-50s, mustached CAPTAIN PAULSON stands near Geoffrey and two PARAMEDICS are crouched next to him. Paramedic #1 feels Geoff's neck for a pulse.
PARAMEDIC #1: "He's got a pulse. We'd better get him to the hospital for observation, just to be sure."
PAULSON: "Do it. This kid's the only survivor on this whole floor. I want to know what happened down here."
Paramedic #2 looks up and notices three bodies covered in sheets down on the floor, two of which cover the halves of Officer Chandler's body.
PARAMEDIC #2: "That's a good question, Captain."
Captain Paulson walks around the corner and stands in the room where all of the prisoner's cells are. Every door to the prison cells has been opened. Every prisoner is being taken out in body bags by paradmedics...all one-hundred and ten of them.
Back in the medical building, Kristen stands at a coat rack at the main level's front entrance. She grabs her jacket and pulls it off of the rack. Kristen puts the jacket on and zips it up. Her cell phone in her pocket rings. Kristen reaches into her pocket, pulls out her cell phone, and pushes the talk button. She holds the phone to her ear.
KRISTEN: "Hey, you." (brief pause) "Nothing much. I'm actually on my way back home. I had to fill in at the night shift for Angie again."
Kristen pauses for a few moments. She CHUCKLES and shakes her head.
KRISTEN: "No, not yet. I didn't even know you wanted to go to the party. I know dancing isn't much of your thing."
Kristen pauses for a few moments. She smiles.
KRISTEN: (touched) "Aww...That's so sweet. I'll be sure to see you tomorrow for dinner."
Kristen pauses for a minute. She doesn't notice Harvey walking towards her from the opposite end of the hallway.
KRISTEN: "Whatever you say, cutie." (pauses) "I love you, too. Bye."
Kristen hangs up the phone and she grabs the door knob. Harvey notices this and runs to her in panic.
HARVEY: "Kris, stop, stop, stop! Don't!"
Kristen spins around to look at Harvey as he rushes to her.
KRISTEN: "Harvey, what're --"
HARVEY: "Don't. We need to go, out the back. We'll cut across to the parking lot."
KRISTEN: "Why? What's the --"
HARVEY: "There's been another murder...right out front."
Kristen stares at Harvey in fearful realization.
KRISTEN: "You mean, on... on our..."
HARVEY: "I got a tip from my buddy who was driving by. We need to go. Come on."
Kristen nods and follows Harvey down the hall.
In the front of the tall medical building, a mid-30s, Asian woman in a doctor's coat lies dead on the ground by her car. An unknown woman in a black coat crouches down next to the dead doctor. She puts her gloved hands down on her ID badge and she pulls it off of her coat. The doctor's ID badge shows a photo of her face and her name printed below it, MEGHAN TAN. The woman is wearing a black mask that covers her entire head that shows nothing of his hair, eyes and face. The woman taps the headset on the side of her mask.
MASKED WOMAN: "Target is down, sir. I've got the ID badge."
DISTORTED VOICE (on the headset): "And the code key. It should be on her. It's the only way you can get inside. Check her pockets, her purse, her car..."
The masked woman reaches into the pockets on the doctor's coat, and turns up empty. She searches the doctor's jeans pockets. Nothing. The masked woman finds her purse lying nearby, and she picks it up. The woman opens the purse, reaches in, and finds a blue credit-card-sized code key.
MASKED WOMAN: "Paydirt."
At a familiar public square, there is an orange statue of a unique design that stands in front of the building.
KIRBY PLAZA - NEW YORK
Angela Petrelli stands in front of the statue, wearing a black coat tied shut over her clothes. Her hands are in her pants pocket and she has a headset on.
ANGELA: "Are you close?"
MALE VOICE (on headset): "I don't see you."
ANGELA: "I'm at the orange statue. Trust me, you can't miss it."
MALE VOICE (on headset): "I see it. I see you."
ANGELA: "Thank you for coming on short notice. You've come a long way since your time in Costa Verde."
A faint whooshing sound erupts behind Angela. She smiles as she hears footsteps approaching from behind. A young man in a jacket, T-shirt and jeans walks over towards Angela and past the statue. WEST ROSEN stops in front of the statue and he glances at it a moment. He raises an eyebrow.
WEST: "You're right. You can't miss it."
Angela turns around and looks at West.
ANGELA: "It's been a long time, West."
WEST: "You should be asleep."
ANGELA: "I can't sleep. I can't dream. We need your help."
WEST: "I almost didn't come. This whole Company thing you've got going on, that's the last place I'd want to work for."
ANGELA: "It's not a permanent job if you don't want it to be. But I need your services, your talent...I need you to be my eyes."
WEST: "Talk to Bennet. Isn't he your go-to...?"
ANGELA: (interrupts) "Bennet is in the hospital with a friend. Claire is missing."
West glances at Angela, caught off-guard.
WEST: "Wait, what?"
ANGELA: "There was an explosion at the old Beeman Warehouse. There was a surge of energy during the blast, and Claire disappeared with most of her friends. Noah has no idea where they are or who made the energy surge."
WEST: "Who? Someone...with an ability...did this?"
ANGELA: "It happened about five hours ago. I've sent agents down there to help them. They'll do whatever they can to find Claire and the others. But I've got some things that I need to get done and I need someone to keep an eye on things for me, to assist me."
WEST: "So why me?"
ANGELA: "Because Claire trusted you, so I know I can trust you. I need someone outside of the Company to help me with what I need to do."
WEST: "Why do I get the feeling there's more to this than just Claire? What do you really want from me, Mrs. Petrelli?"
Angela smirks at West.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
In a large F.B.I. office, Agent AUDREY HANSON sits at her desk and types on her computer. She clicks her mouse and her mailbox pops up. The page reads HENDERSON KILLER REPORT 305.
AUDREY: "Jackpot."
AGENT BRAD BENSON - 35 with black hair and a goatee - walks over to Audrey.
BENSON: "What did you find?"
Audrey clicks on her email and opens it. A file of a police report is printed in the email.
AUDREY: "We've got a lead on that killer. It seems this guy has been going from place to place with no real pattern. He's been picking off doctors, janitors, anyone he can find. A new report just got sent to me from Austin, Texas."
BENSON: "Texas? I thought he was in Oklahoma."
AUDREY: "Not anymore. Nobody's been able to get a good look at this creep, but we just got word on a scientist found dead at the Jerald Kent Memorial Hospital."
BENSON: "What's the name?"
Audrey scrolls down on the email and notices a photograph of a late-40s, gray-haired man. Below the photo is the name of the man, DANNY PARK.
AUDREY: "Daniel 'Danny' Park. He was a clerk at a Barnes and Noble Bookstore."
BENSON: "I don't get it. Why is this guy picking off random people? This doesn't make sense."
AUDREY: "There's got to be a connection here somewhere. We're just missing something..."
The head of the building, JARED HILL, enters the room. Jared is 50, African-American, with gray hair and dressed in a business suit. He walks over to Audrey's desk.
JARED: "Hanson. Benson. I need you two to go down to Austin, Texas."
BENSON: "Wow, that was quick."
AUDREY: "We'll get right on the case of the Henderson killer, sir."
JARED: "Forget about the Henderson killer. I'm talking about the new masked killer in town. Some psycho has just murdered two scientists and a doctor, as well as two of our best agents. I want you two to cover the case now."
BENSON: "But our work on the Henderson case isn't finished."
JARED: "It's done now. You're being re-assigned and McGavin is covering the Henderson killer."
AUDREY: "Sir, why are we covering this new killer?"
JARED: "Because this creep apparently set off a huge white explosion near a water tower. Two people in town have been reported missing in the blast, probably blown up by it."
BENSON: "A white explosion? Sounds weird."
JARED: "What it is, kid, is bad, and I want you both on the next plane to Austin...right now. Got that?"
AUDREY: "Yes, sir."
Jared turns around and walks out of the room. Benson turns to Audrey and folds his arms over his chest. He shakes his head.
BENSON: "I think we're growing on him, don't you?"
AUDREY: "This isn't the time for sarcasm."
BENSON: "Aw, come on, Hanson, lighten up. It's just a joke. We can handle this lady killer...er, lady who is a killer...uh..."
AUDREY: "I know what you meant. I just can't believe we're being re-assigned. Derek Henderson was the biggest businessman in all of Los Angeles, and we've spent three months of work on it, for nothing."
BENSON: "I wouldn't say for nothing, partner. You've done a lot of good stuff with the case, as much as you could. Now it's Mr. Hill's problem now."
AUDREY: "How? McGavin got the assignment instead."
BENSON: "And McGavin is the worst agent on staff, so it really is Mr. Hill's problem now."
Audrey half-smiles.
BENSON: "See? You can loosen up. It's not a felony around here."
AUDREY: "Go get the flight scheduled. I'll get everything ready."
BENSON: "As usual."
AUDREY: "As usual."
Benson nods, and he turns around and walks off. A new message appears on her Inbox. Audrey looks at the subject heading -- MISSING PERSONS CASE 902180, AUSTIN, TEXAS. Audrey looks puzzled and clicks on the inbox. The message in the email says, in big bold letters, MISSING -- HE NEEDS YOUR HELP. Below the message, there is a photograph of Matt Parkman.
AUDREY: "What the hell?"
Audrey turns around and notices she's alone. Audrey turns back to the email. It is suddenly gone.
AUDREY: "What? Wait!"
Audrey clicks on her Inbox. The email isn't there. She clicks on her Recently Deleted selection. The email isn't in there.
AUDREY: "Who sent that?"
SOMEWHERE IN THE DESERT - AFRICA
Matt Parkman lies unconscious on the sand-covered ground, the heat of the sun bearing down on him. Blood drips from the cut on the side of his head. Matt's clothes are dirty and have specks of sand on them. A turtle crawls on the ground, several feet away from Matt. Distant footsteps draw closer, approaching Matt. A familiar shaman approaches - African-American, bald and lean-physique...
Usutu - in a red shirt, jeans and sandals - walks on the sand, clutching a walking staff in his hands. He stands in front of Matt and smiles down at his friend.
USUTU: "It is time to wake up, Parkman."
Matt groggily gets up, awakening. He rubs his eyes and COUGHS.
USUTU (CONT'D): "You need to prepare. There is not much time."
Matt stands up, his legs shaking. He holds the side of his head and grimaces.
MATT: "Usutu."
USUTU: "You are bleeding, Parkman. You should get that bandaged."
MATT: "Is this a dream? Am I having a vision?"
Usutu simply smiles.
MATT: "How did I get here? Where are the others?"
USUTU: "You were separated. There is not much time. You have much work to finish, before the seventh day."
MATT: "Seventh day? Where is everyone? How did I get here?"
USUTU: "Your questions will be answered, Parkman. But I do not have those answers. You will see, soon enough."
MATT: "See what? What are you talking about?"
USUTU: "You are not alone."
Matt turns his head. He notices the turtle.
MATT: "Right. It's just you, me, and Leonardo, right? What's going on?"
Matt turns his head back to Usutu. He has gone. Matt looks around the desert. He sees only sand as far as the eye can see.
MATT: "Hey!"
Matt looks around, seeing no one. To his right, behind the turtle, is a hill of sand.
MATT: (shouts) "HEEEEEY! WHERE ARE YOU?!?"
ANDO: (shouts out) "Matt?!?"
Matt turns to the hill. Ando runs up on top of the hill from the other side. He smiles and turns around.
ANDO: (shouts down) "He's here!!"
Ando runs down the hill. Hiro Nakamura and Claire Bennet run over the top of the hill from the other side and then run down after Ando. Ando stands next to Matt and Claire and Hiro join them.
MATT: "What happened? Where are the others?"
CLAIRE: "We looked around, but we couldn't find them."
Matt notices Hiro is holding the back of his head.
MATT: "You okay?"
HIRO: "I'm okay. Just bumped my head."
ANDO: "We think they might still be in New York. We couldn't find a trace of them. No footprints, nothing."
MATT: "Okay, okay. Let's just go back and get them. Hiro, get us there."
HIRO: "I would, but we have one problem."
MATT: "What? What, what problem?"
Hiro shuts his eyes, concentrates...and disappears. A split second later, he is shoved backwards and hits the ground, hard. Hiro GRUNTS and rubs his head.
MATT: "Oh, great."
ANDO: "Something is blocking Hiro from using his powers. We have no food, no water, no shelter...and no clue as to how to get out of here."
CLAIRE: "I'll be okay without food and water. But it's getting hotter out here, and you guys..."
ANDO: (interrupts) "Have a big problem."
MATT: "We could always eat Leonardo."
HIRO: "Who?"
MATT: "The turtle. I was only kidding, Hiro."
Hiro turns around and looks down. He looks stunned.
HIRO: (subtitled from Japanese) "That's one problem solved."
The others turn to face Hiro.
ANDO: (subtitled from Japanese) "Hiro? What is it? What do you see?"
HIRO: (subtitled from Japanese) "Dinner."
The others look down. Lying in the sand, near the turtle, is an enormous, open cooler filled with ice. Within the cooler are sodas, water bottles, bags of chips, bags with sandwiches, and other items. Hiro bows his head, and smiles warmly at the turtle.
HIRO: (subtitled from Japanese) "Thank you, Leonardo."
Matt crouches down to the cooler and looks at the food items. He looks stunned. Matt looks up and spots Usutu standing on the sand hill. Usutu nods, turns around, and walks down the hill.
MATT: "What the hell is going on?"
Noah stands in the living/main room of his hotel room, waiting. The clock on the wall reads 2:15 A.M. There is a knock on the door. Noah walks over to the door and looks out of the peep hole. Noah unlocks the door and then he opens it. He steps aside and lets Mohinder walk into the room, holding a bagged item under his arm.
MOHINDER: "Where's Tracy?"
Noah shuts the door behind him and glances at Mohinder.
NOAH: "She's in the back, resting. I cleaned up her cuts as best I could."
MOHINDER: "I'll have a look at her in a few moments. Perhaps I can help her."
NOAH: "First things first, Mohinder. You said you had a clue that would tell us what happened tonight."
MOHINDER: "It's more than just a clue. It showed me exactly what's happened."
NOAH: "What are you talking about?"
Mohinder grabs the bagged item out from under his arm and hands it to Noah.
MOHINDER: "Just see what was shipped into stores this week."
Noah looks puzzled and grabs the bagged object. He turns it over and looks stunned at what he sees.
Held in Noah's hand is a comic book, with a drawing of the same masked man they met. The man is drawn with his head lowered in front of the enormous crater in the ground exactly as we saw earlier that night. Noah looks up at Mohinder. The title of the comic is 9TH WONDERS! Below the title it reads LIMITED EDITION MINI SERIES and the issue number is 1 of 9.
NOAH: "This is impossible. Parkman said that he had gotten sketches of the last posthumous issue of 9th Wonders when he was looking for Hiro. It wasn't even finished."
MOHINDER: "The disclaimer inside said that a messenger dropped off the last nine issues of 9th Wonders last month to the comic book company. Apparently, these were stories Isaac had painted before his death that had been misplaced. The publisher issued them to be released as a nine issue mini-series over the next nine weeks."
NOAH: "And what's in this issue? What did you see?"
Mohinder shakes his head, just as surprised as Noah.
MOHINDER: "See for yourself."
Noah glances at the comic bag and he opens it. He pulls the comic book out and opens it to the front page. It's a full-page drawing of the same warehouse exploding. Noah turns the pages, noticing page after page. He stops at pages nine and ten. The drawings are of Tracy talking to Stanley in the waiting room. He turns the pages and stops at pages seventeen and eighteen. It's of Noah in Peter's hospital room, finding the letter taped to his chart.
NOAH: "This is all what we did tonight. The explosion at the Beeman Warehouse, the phone calls, the waiting room... All of this has already happened."
MOHINDER: "Not all of it. Look at the ending."
Noah turns to the last page. He stares at it in shock.
NOAH: "It can't be."
There are police cars, ambulances and fire trucks parked in front of the enormous crater where the warehouse was. Long ladders have been placed against the craters to let the firemen, policemen and others go up from and down into the crater. Paramedics look through the debris but find no one.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "Everyone is unique in their own special way."
A paramedic digs through dirt and debris, while policemen stand watch. One officer walks past the debris and shines a flash light at a darkened corner. He sees no one there.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "There are those whose bravery we admit in the line of duty."
Peter Petrelli lies on his hospital bed, barely breathing.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "They are the ones who find the courage to go out and try to make a difference in the world."
Dawn walks in through the open doorway and stands by Peter's bed. She looks at his monitors, noticing his low heart rate. Dawn looks at Peter in concern.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "There are those who use their skills to watch over and take of others."
A few hundred feet away from the area, the masked man looks on at the fire trucks, ambulances and police cars parked around the crater.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "And there are those who prefer to keep their own unique skills to themselves, whatever their talent may be."
Sarah is lying on her bed, her eyes shut. She opens her eyes and rolls over onto her side, looking at the night sky through her bedroom window.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "There are those of us who have talents that others can only dream of, and those who are content with just being ordinary."
Tracy sits on a bed of her own in the hotel bedroom. She glances down at her bandaged hands. Her hands and the bandages are both soaking wet.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "But those of us who have talents more fantastic than others do not always have a choice in being special."
Noah stares at the last page of the 9th Wonders comic book.
MOHINDER (NARRATES): "And there are those who do not yet know how special they are about to become."
Noah narrows his eyes at the drawing of the last page.
NOAH: "'Kirby Plaza...One week.'"
Upon closer look on the comic, we see that the drawing is of Kirby Plaza. The sky has become dark, and there is a familiar solar eclipse taking place.
Noah glances up. He closes the comic book.