Chapter III
Come Together
ISAAC & PETER
MANHATTAN
Isaac and Peter stared at the finished painting. At the bottom was now a man in horn-rimmed glasses, lying in a pool of blood, a bullet wound between the eyes.
"We have to save him," Isaac said, a new sense of determination bubbling inside him.
Isaac's phone began to ring. Peter turned towards the phone.
"Ignore it," Isaac said, "It's a wrong number. Some Japanese guy keeps calling, leaving messages."
Peter walked over and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Isaac? Isaac Mendez?"
"Who is this?"
"Uh, my name is Hiro Nakamura."
"My name is Peter Petrelli. I have a message for you."
Hiro and Ando looked at each other.
"{What did he say?}" Hiro asked.
"{He has a message for you,}" Ando said.
"{What message?}"
Hiro gave the phone to Ando.
"What message?" Ando asked.
"Save the salesman," Peter said, "Save the world."
Ando repeated the message in Japanese.
"{Salesman?}" Hiro said, confused.
"What salesman?" Ando asked, "Where?"
Peter looked at Isaac. He covered the telephone mouthpiece.)
"What salesman? Where?"
"I don't know where he is," Isaac said.
"Yeah, but you painted these," Peter replied
"So did you."
He then walked away. Annoyed, Peter answered Ando, "We don't know who he is. We don't know where he is. We just know that we need to save him."
"Tell him about the guy from the future!" Isaac said, examining the just-completed painting.
"He is the guy from the future," Peter said to Isaac. Into the phone, he said, "A Hiro Nakamura from the future, who speaks English and carries a sword, stopped time to tell me that I have to save the salesman. That's—that's all I know."
Ando was stunned. Slowly, he turned to Hiro and said, "{You came from the future and told them to save the salesman. And you had a sword!}"
"{I had a sword?}"
Ando nodded.
"Get to New York," Peter said to Ando, "We'll find out where the salesman is." And then he hung up.
Hiro turned to Ando, smiling, "{I had a sword.}"
Meanwhile, Peter organized Isaac's paintings. Peter and Isaac moved the latest painting up against the wall next to the other paintings.
"We must be missing something," Peter said, "Some sign of where they are. See, these paintings, they fit together like pages in a comic book."
Peter stepped back.
"There's a panel missing," Peter said, pointing, "What was right there?"
"Nothing," Isaac said, "This is everything I painted last night. But there's a piece about that size. I painted it weeks ago. Simone has it.
"Simone."
"She took a bunch of my paintings to sell. It's with them."
"What was it of?"
"I don't remember. I was high."
"Then we need to get it back."
Peter grabbed the phone and dialed.
Isaac scoffed, "Tell her a guy from the future said you needed it. I'm sure she'll love that."
CHANDRA & SYLAR
MIDLAND, TEXAS
"I'd recommend the chilaquiles."
Chandra grunted, not looking up from his menu, "Are you sure approaching Ms. Andrews at work is a good idea?"
Sylar set down his menu, "Trust me on this."
Chandra set down his menu, "I suppose it can't hurt."
Charlie approached their table, "Is there anything I can get you gentlemen?"
"As a matter of fact, Ms. Andrews," Chandra said, "I think you can help us."
Charlie stared at Chandra for a moment, "Oookay."
"My name is Chandra Suresh, and this is my associate Gabriel Sylar."
"Hello."
"I'm researching people with extraordinary abilities, and I believe that you may be one of them."
Slowly, Charlie nodded. She thought for a moment, then said, "Well, I've been remembering lots of stuff lately. I figured it was just something my brain was doing, but…"
"Is your memory 'perfect'?" Sylar asked.
"I guess you could say that."
Sylar cocked his head to a side, as if listening to Charlie intently.
"Um, guys? Could you hold it for just a minute, I have another table."
As Charlie left, Sylar said, "I think we freaked her out."
"They're always 'freaked out', Gabriel. Eidetic memory, perhaps? We won't need special equipment to test for that."
Several minutes later, Charlie returned to their table.
"All right," she said, "So you think I have a special ability?"
"Depends on how good your memory is," Chandra said, pulling a deck of cards from his pack. He showed Charlie the first five cards, then put it away, "If you can remember the order in five minutes, you may have an eidetic memory."
"The ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume," she said, as if quoting something, "Yeah, that sounds like me."
"Who won the Academy Award for best actor in 1981?" Sylar asked.
"She's not Google," Chandra said, frowning.
"Henry Fonda," Charlie said, "On Golden Pond."
Chandra looked at Sylar, who shrugged.
"You want a test?" Charlie asked, "You should see if I remember your credit card number."
She laughed and said, "So, what are your special abilities?"
"I have none," Chandra said.
"I know how things work," Sylar said, "Instantaneously. For instance, when you recall information, I can tell that your hippocampus is secreting abnormally large amounts of acetylcholine. And there's a blood clot in your brain."
Charlie gasped. "There is. They say it's gonna kill me some day. You really are special, aren't you?" she said, sitting down between them.
"You don't know the half of it," Sylar said, "I could remove it."
Her jaw dropped, then she nodded.
Sylar held her head in his hands and concentrated. Eventually, a small amount of blood trickled out of her left eye.
Charlie wiped her eye, "Oh my God. Thank you."
Sylar smiled.
Chandra cleared his throat, "If I may, can we return to our tests?"
"Of course," Charlie said.
HIRO & ANDO
BURNT TOAST DINER
THREE DAYS LATER
Ando and Hiro looked at their menus.
"{No wonder everyone in America is so fat,}" Ando complained, "{All there is to eat is waffles and French fries.}"
"{You like French fries,}" Hiro said.
"{I've gained four kilos from French fries.}"
"{We need our strength,}" Hiro said, "{Soon we'll meet Peter Petrelli and help him save the salesman's life. It is our mission.}"
Charlie came over to their table, "Hey, anything looking good, guys?"
Hiro glanced at his menu, smiled at Charlie, and said in his best English, "Every-seeng good-o looking."
She nodded and giggled, "Wow. You two are a long way from home. We don't get a lot of tourists out here."
"Tourist-o?" Hiro said, "How you know we tourist-o?"
"It's just a guess," Charlie said, "What's that on your jacket? Bachigai. That means 'I don't belong here', right?"
"You know Japanese?"
"Well, I got this Japanese phrasebook for my birthday about six months ago, and I started poking through it last week." She hesitated, "{One bento box with shrimp, please.}"
Hiro clapped enthusiastically, "Sugoi!"
"{I'm still learning,}" Charlie staid, still in Japanese, "{Tokyo is going to be the third stop on my trip someday.}"
Ando was astonished, "You learned all that from a book in just one week?"
"Very good memory!" Hiro said.
"Yeah, I remember lots and lots. It's just something that my brain started doing lately. Whether I want it to or not. Um…so what'll it be?"
"You pick," Hiro said, "Someseeng delicious for me. And, uh, for my friend, he needs food for fatto, fatto!"
Charlie laughed, "Okay. Well, I got just the thing. One chilaquiles, and one cottage cheese plate coming right up."
After they ate, Charlie returned with the copy of Activating Evolution that Chandra and Sylar had given her three days before.
"I was visited by this professor a few days ago," she said, "Who said I was one of a select group of people with special abilities."
"Yes!" Hiro said, "There are people with special powers!"
"I wouldn't have believed it if Mr. Sylar hadn't removed…hadn't removed the blood clot in my brain with his mind."
"A man removed something with his mind?" Ando asked.
Charlie nodded, "I know you probably think I'm lying to y'all…"
"No! No!" Hiro shouted. He leaned towards her, "I bend time and space. Teleport into future!"
Charlie's eyes widened, "Okay. So what's the future like?"
"Bad. Big bomb go kaboom! in New York. We are on mission to save the world."
Charlie took this in, "A mission."
Hiro nodded.
Charlie said, in Japanese, "{Do you think I could go with you? I've always wanted to see New York.}"
Hiro nodded excitedly.
"{If you…}" Charlie hesitated, then switched back to English, "Teleport, why not teleport to New York? Why are you driving?"
"Oh." Hiro reached into his pack, pulling out the copy of 9th Wonders! he had stolen in the future. "Mr. Isaac wrote the future. Show us driving."
"Oh, my, that's you, isn't it?" Charlie said as she looked at the cover. She opened Activating Evolution to the section on precognition.
"'Precognition may manifest itself in several ways,'" she quoted, "'Like Nostradamus, a precog might write predictions of the future. On the other hand, a precog might paint or draw images of the future.'"
She ran her hand through her hair, "This is nuts."
"You don't believe me?" Hiro asked, upset.
"No, I believe you, but it's still nuts." She stood up, "I'll just quit and pack my things."
"Quitto?" Hiro asked, "No vacation?"
"Not with a job like this," Charlie said as she left.
Hiro turned to Ando, "{Why no vacation days? Don't they have to offer them?}"
"{No,}" Ando said, shaking his head, "{America sucks that way.}"
"Quit?" Lynette asked, "Why on earth would you quit?"
"I finally have my chance to see the world!" Charlie said.
"With them?" she jerked her head, "You don't even know them. What if they're serial killers?"
"Oh, Lynette!" Charlie laughed, "I'm going."
"Alright," Lynette said, "But your job will be waiting for you when you turn around."
"I won't turn around," Charlie said.