Hiro: Previously on Heroes...
(How to Stop an Exploding Man)
Hiro: You have shown me what bravery is.
Ando: Your whole life you talked about your favorite stories...Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman, Kensei...All the heroes you wanted to be. One day people will tell the story of...Hiro Nakamura.
(Cut to Haunted Minds)
Hiro: Someday Oto-san, I will make you proud of me. I'll do whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.
(Flash back in black and white. 1989, Japan. Hiro is at the playground playing with Ando when two tall, older bullies approach them)
Hiro: Hello, would you like to play with us?
Ando: No, Hiro, don't bother paying attention to them, they just want to pick on us.
Hiro: I believe in giving everyone a fair chance. (he smiles)
Bully #1: I figured with a dad as cool and powerful as yours, you'd be as cool as him, and as strong, but you're not! You're just a spineless little wimp!
Bully #2: Got that right!
Ando: Hey, that´s enough! Hiro, you can't let him bully you! Stand up for yourself, if not I will! (Ando stands up and is about to punch him but Hiro tries to stop him by grabbing his arm and Ando gets into a fight with the bullies while Hiro looks on in sadness and runs away to a swing)
Hiro(thinking): I´m sorry Ando. I'm such a horrible friend, I'm not strong enough to defend you from the bullies. I never am, being peaceful just makes me so weak. Okaa san tells me not to fight, but then I let Ando always take the fall for me. I have brought such shame and honor to my family, especially my father. I'll never bring them honor, and be a hero. I´ll never be like Takezo Kensei. (the camera closes up on him taking off his glasses and holding his face in his hands as he cries)
Start of episode. Credits roll.
Chapter 14: Haunted Minds
Guest Stars:
Matt McGorry
Sekai Murashige as young Hiro
Hiroki Doi as young Ando
Hudson Yuang as Bully #1
Jordan Nagai as Bully #2
Recurring
Daniel Henney
Gale Harold
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Deanne Bray
February 10th 2011
(The alarm sounds off in Hiro's bedroom as he wakes with a jolt, and begins to breathe heavily. A few tears roll down his face as he hangs his head and slowly takes his glasses from the nightstand. He's about to change out of his light blue pajamas until he sees a flash of green light and cries out in surprise as he falls to the floor. Caitlin appears before him)
Caitlin: Why, hello Hiro. It's been a while. Don't be so scared to see me. I don't bite. (she gives him a sinister smile as she stands before him in an ebony black dress and looking more beautiful yet fatal than ever)
Hiro: What do you want from me?
Caitlin: A little bird told me you might be interested in joining our team.
Hiro: I want nothing to do with you or anything that Lionel has planned!
Caitlin: Why? Do you really think you're on the right side of things? Look at the way evolved humans have treated us. They now know the true extent of our powers. (She takes her hand and the brightest, strongest fire Hiro has ever seen appears above it).
Hiro: If you think you can seduce me with false promises of power and glory, then you're wrong!
(Lionel, Lane, and Cho appear before him with Kazuma sweating and gasping profusely in a tattered, old gray suit, with a dusty old red tie. He's paralyzed.)
Cho: Is she wrong, or is she telling you something that you can't admit to yourself?
Hiro: Kazuma-san!
Kazuma: (in Japanese)Hiro-san, please don't listen to them! They're manipulating you! They promised me glory and power as well! At one point they even made me believe that Yoko didn't love me!
Lane: Somebody forgot that I'm fluent in Japanese now didn't they?(she moves her finger to electrocute him but Hiro moves to attack her with a samurai sword from the floor and moves quickly enough under the electricity to use an elaborate Battojutsu method. This results in her screaming as her face is cut. Cho moves to attack and grab Hiro with his super strength but Hiro dodges him with the sword and he shouts in agony as his left hand is cut, the blood slowly spilling on Hiro's pale white floor. Caitlin begins to attack him but a flash of electricity pushes her down to the ground as Peter appears behind her. Lane has been thrown down to the ground, her ability absorbed by Peter)
Hiro: Peter, thank you so much!
Peter: No problem, it's not like they were being quiet anyway. Caitlin, let Kazuma go and leave Hiro alone. This is between you and me.
Caitlin: Oh finally, you actually get the picture, Petrelli. Until I turn vengeful and become your worst enemy, then all of a sudden you remember me.
Peter: I wanted to come back for you. I didn't think there'd be a point though, I was worried about messing with history again. I didn't think that I could help you.
Caitlin: Let me guess, Hiro warned you about not to mess with time, which is rather convenient for him, because he can do it for the sake of his friend finding love, but not for anything else. Isn't bending the rules fun?
(Lane gets up from the ground and laughs mockingly at Hiro, but before she can move for an attack Ando teleports behind her and he attacks her with Peter's strength, throwing her back on the ground)
Lane: I've had enough. Let's get out of here! Don't worry Hiro. We'll be back for you and the next time, we' ll show you who you can be. The next time, your super friends won't save you from yourself!(Caitlin nearly whines in protest, but Lionel looks at her with a cold, stern look on his face before they vanish, leaving Kazuma with Peter, Hiro, and Ando, looks of shock on their faces)
Peter: Hiro, what were they talking about?
Ando: (in a soft yet worried voice): Is there anything you need to tell us?
Hiro looks at them and Kazuma quietly and almost blankly, eyes darkened before saying: No thanks, I'm fine. Thanks for saving me as usual.
(Cut to Peter talking to Gabriel, Noah, Mirei, Kazuma, Yoko, Ando, and Tracy at his dining room table. A week has passed since the arrival of Lionel and his henchmen. Yoko and Kazuma are looking at each uncomfortably and slightly touching fingers before pulling away.)
Peter: Has anybody noticed Hiro's been acting strange lately?
Mirei: Yeah, he hasn't been acting like his usual self. He's been so angry and confrontational lately.
Kazuma: He's refused to talk to me, and I can't blame him. I've betrayed you all, I'm glad that you all don't hate me.
Gabriel(turns to him with a look of understanding): I have done so much worse than you, believe me Kazuma. I completely understand what you're going through. I'm grateful to all of you for allowing me the chance to redeem myself and be friends with you all. (he looks in subtle happiness at the entire group as they smile back slightly)
Peter: Ando, have you heard from Hiro at all recently?
Ando: No, I'm very worried about him. He's become a lot more withdrawn. It's as though that fight we had with Lionel and his cronies brought out some dark part of him.
(Saki bursts into the room, sweating and panting)
Saki: I can't find him! He's gone! He must have been kidnapped, he wouldn't have turned against us! I don't believe it!
(Mirei goes over to hug her)
Mirei: (speaking in Japanese)I don't want to believe it either. We don't know for sure though. I've gone to that path, but I don't see how someone as pure as him could go there.
Saki(crying): No, he won't! He won't become evil!
Peter: Whatever happens, we won't leave him to Lionel.
Noah: Hiro has been through pain we can't imagine. Losing his father, Charlie, loss is the type of thing that can change a man forever. It can make or break someone. Hiro's tried so hard to be strong, the man his father has always wanted him to be, and I think he's tired of being weak.
Tracy: How could you call him weak? He's the strongest, bravest, and purest of all of us! He's had to sacrifice so much, and you're calling him weak?! (She shouts at him angrily as she gets up from the table)
Noah: I'm not saying that, Tracy. What I'm saying is that he feels weak.
Peter: We need to let Hiro know how important Hiro is to us before it's too late. (They all nod and Peter looks away, the camera focusing on his fearful face)
(Cut to Lionel staring out at the window of his office quietly pondering his next plan before his wife Emily(played by Amy Acker)comes in to talk to him)
Lionel: Hello, Emily.
Emily: Is that any way to greet your wife? Apparently seven years of marriage makes you entitled to greet me with your back instead of your face.
Lionel(turns around to face her): Excuse my manners but I was thinking about what to do next to get Hiro on our team. He's a valuable asset. Everything I do for my career, I also do it for you and the boys. (He leans in to kiss her, she hesitates and they kiss neither chastely nor deeply but Lionel never liked chaste kisses. He always preferred power and control over chastity and tenderness. They are interrupted by Hiro's cry. He's tied to one of Lionel's chairs with a steel rope)
Hiro: Set me free! I don't understand, how can I not teleport out of here?
Lionel (walks up to him snickering): Well Cho, in addition to being a great spy and one of my best evolved henchmen, he's also a great inventor. That steel is teleport proof.
Emily: Lionel, my love, why don't you set him free? I really think that this torture has gone too far.
Lionel(whispers): If I don't challenge him enough, he won't be what we need. He needs to be ruined before he can come to our side. I don't appreciate my wife questioning my every move. If you can't support me, then I'd like you to leave. ( he says loudly)
Emily: That's fine by me. I was just about to leave anyway. I have to pick up the boys from their friends' home anyway. (she stares at him darkly and angrily before she turns and walks away)
(Lionel looks at her briefly but angrily as she walks off. He then turns to Hiro, who stares at him angrily in the chair)
Hiro: I won't let you do this to me! I won't let you turn me against my friends!
Lionel: What kind of friends are they really? Don't you want more? More than what they expect of you? What do you think you are to them? A weak, pathetic sidekick. You're the fun, cute, good-hearted time traveler. I'm sure Takezo Kensei and your father would be so proud. (he says sarcastically)
Hiro: Leave my father out of this!
Lionel: That's just the edge we need. Why don't we take a look back and see how they really feel about you? Why don't we see the man you were destined to be all along but they wouldn't let you. Cho, please come here and assist us. (Cho steps forward with a needle, which contains a liquid that induces its victims in a trance reliving their most difficult and darkest memories)
Hiro: No, what are you going to do to me!?
Cho: We're going to take you to a trip down memory lane. Have fun. (he smiles sadistically before Hiro briefly cries out in pain before passing out)
Lionel: Excellent work. Now, let's leave him be. It'll be more effective once we leave the room, so he's not distracted.
Cho: It's a shame, I really wanted to see this.
Lionel: Don't worry, we'll see the fruits of our labor soon enough.(he smiles wickedly as they leave the room and shut the door. The camera closes in on Hiro's face, eyes closed but his expression is full of pain and darkness.)
Hiro(mutters in japanese): I'm sorry, Father. Forgive me for failing you.
(cut to Peter walking outside with Laura and Emma talking about Hiro)
Peter: I just don't understand why Hiro would disappear on us like this. I hope he's somewhere safe, it's really cold out here, and I really hope Lionel isn't torturing him, but he probably is anyway. (he sighs as a look of worry appears on his face)
Laura: We'll find him eventually. What makes it hard is that a simple Google search won't help us find his work address.
Peter: The one I looked up wasn't his?
Laura: Noah told me that he has a secret office building so he doesn't attract suspicion.
Peter: He just figured he needed a secret place to do his dirty deeds. Well, it won't be secret for long.
Emma: (sighning and talking): It would make sense that his office is a difficult place to find. That way he can avoid his enemies.
(Peter's cell phone suddenly starts to ring and he answers it)
Peter: Hello?
Matt(on the other line); Hey, Pete, it's Matt. Guess what? I found one of Lionel's henchmen and I managed to knock him out with some anesthesia I borrowed from Mohinder and I read his mind while he was sleeping. I got Lionel's address. 120 W. Terrace Street. (he says while looking at the unconscious man( Matt McGorry).
Peter: Thanks, Matt.
Matt: No problem.
(Cut to Hiro waking up after the memory serum. Lionel and Cho are standing before him.)
Lionel; How do you feel, Hiro?
Hiro smiles darkly before saying: I've never felt better.
(cut to black)