Numbers in brackets are keyed to footnote editorial comments.

Volume III: Villains
Chapter Two: The Butterfly Effect

Bennet House, Costa Verde California: Claire and Sandra sweep up broken glass from Sylar's exploding light bulb tricks. Claire tells her mother that Sylar won't be back now that he's gotten what he came for. She won't give details but assures Sandra that he didn't rape her[1]. While they clean, Claire accidentally embeds a piece of glass into her hand. She can't feel the pain, which disturbs her because she always could before. It reminded her that she was still human.

Company Headquarters: It's dark and Angela Petrelli wanders empty halls. She finds Hiro lying in a doorway with his katana in his chest. Matt lies dead in a chair. Someone in shadow holds Claire against a wall, then throws her down. Noah's dead on the floor. Peter slides down a wall with a his chest torn open. The shadowy figure drags Claire's body away, leaving her head behind. Angela turns to see several figures enter the hall behind her: Adam Monroe, Niki Sanders, Maury Parkman and a black man (the Haitian?) who can't be clearly seen. While she stares at them, Sylar comes up behind her. Suddenly, she awakens in her the back of a cab[2].

Peter's Apartment, Manhattan: Angela enters to find Peter mapping out time with strings and a map of the world. Her dream tells her that bad things are going to happen because he's come back. Peter's seen what she'll do and what she'll become, and he's going to prevent it. She can't let him mess with time because of the butterfly effect[3]: step on a butterfly now and a million people die three years from now. Take Claire, who didn't go to Odessa because Scar Peter told her not to. As a result, she had a very bad day. Angela suggests he go check on that for himself.

Mohinder's Lab[4], Manhattan: Maya enters, calling for Mohinder. He's hanging from a beam on the ceiling, but swings down to the ground when he sees her. His formula has given him energy, strength, speed, enhanced senses... he also demonstrates the ability to climb walls like Spider Man or... the Fly (Jeff Goldblum version). He also figures that if the serum will give him powers, it's only a matter of time before he figures out how to take them away. Mohinder takes advantage of Maya's pleasure to kiss her, and one thing leads very rapidly to another.

Desert or Grassland: Matt wanders aimlessly until he falls down from dehydration/exhaustion.

Street, Odessa Texas: Sylar walks down the street carrying the level 5 folder. A car with an internal camera pulls up in front of him. A man and woman get out. The man shoots Sylar with a tranquilizer dart. Sylar removes it, then uses his telekinesis to throw the woman aside and the man through the car's front windshield and into the camera.

Bob's Office, Company Headquarters: Elle and Bob watch the car's video. Elle apologizes for letting Sylar get away. Bob refuses to let her go after him because he doesn't want her to disappoint herself or Bob any more than she already has. He turns away from her, and she leaves the office in a huff.

Yamagato Industries, Tokyo Japan: Men in dark suits examine the mess left behind by the speedster's passage. Ando calls to Hiro, who jumps and then accuses Ando of sneaking up. Hiro's visibly wary of Ando. The men are private detectives that Hiro has hired to trace the thief. They're expensive enough not to ask questions[5], and they've found a fingerprint that AFIS tells them belongs to Daphne Millbrook who lives in France. Hiro's going after her. Ando wants to come too, and wonders what he's done to get left out. Hiro reconsiders, then grabs his shoulder and the two of them wink out.

Office Building, Washington D.C.: Tracy Strauss and Governor Malden discuss filling a vacant Senate position with Nathan. The Governor thinks Nathan is an unpredictable choice. Tracy (Niki) is sure he's the right one. They argue back and forth. Malden pays her for advice, and her advice is to accept Nathan as an asset. Malden agrees, and Tracy leaves to catch a flight to Texas. On her way to her car, she's accosted by a wild-haired man who confronts her with pictures of Niki taken from her stripper-cam web site. Tracy denies any connection. The reporter has sources he trusts, so he's going to run the story with or without her comment. Tracy promises to bury him if he does.

Daphne's Apartment, Paris France: Hiro and Ando appear in a room crowded with art treasures including the Mona Lisa.

A train track in Costa Verde, California: Claire tapes herself, talking about needing to prove she's still human. This is attempt #7. A train comes and Claire stands in front of it waiting to be hit when Peter flies out of nowhere and carries her out of the way. As they walk away, Claire tells him what happened. Peter knows it wasn't supposed to happen. In spite of her power, she was just a victim. She begs Peter to teach her how to defend herself, but he refuses. He can't tell her why, but he's already interfered too much. She's still pleading when he teleports away.

Nathan's Hospital Room, Odessa: Nathan's praying by the window when Tracy walks in. He's surprised to see her, believing she's Niki. Tracy lays out her proposition: putting him in the place vacated by a recently deceased politician. She denies that they've ever met and that she's Niki. Nathan doesn't believe it, but she hands him her card and invites him to check her out before turning on her heel and leaving. Linderman is standing by the door, but she sweeps out without seeming to be aware of his presence. Linderman insists that she is who she says she is, and that the offer is genuine. Nathan should take her up on it because that's part of God's plan[6]. Nathan questions how much Linderman could possibly know of God's plan, then orders him to leave. Linderman walks out.

Company Offices, California: Elle busts into Bob's office. She's got a plan to catch Sylar. He's looking for powers, and level 5 is like a buffet to him. Bob's got the back of his chair to her and isn't listening because he's been de-brained. When she realizes this, Elle grabs a gun and runs down to Level 5. She passes a man whose hands burn with blue fire[7], a black man in a straight-jacket, and the pudgy bald man claiming to be Peter Petrelli before she reaches Noah's cell. She busts in, tosses Noah the gun and tells him what's happened. Noah rises, but as Elle leaves, she's thrown into the air. Noah rushes out to find Sylar waiting. Noah fires eight times and Sylar falls back against the wall, dead for a moment. Bullets fall out of his body, though, and he's soon back on his feet. He got the healing from Claire, and he throws Noah against the ceiling, knocking him out. Peter screams protest, but he's still locked in his cell pounding on the glass. Sylar flips Elle over and shows her Noah's gun. He uses Bob's power to turn it into gold, then starts to slice open her head. The combination of pain and fear overloads Elle and she explodes. The blast throws Sylar away and Elle drifts in and out of consciousness.

She's blasted open the cells. Noah's free, but so are the others, including Peter who checks on her but is then hustled away by the straight-jacket fellow who calls him Jesse. Noah drags a body (Sylar?) across the floor, and then Elle passes out.

Daphne's Apartment: Hiro and Ando search for the formula, but all they're finding are priceless treasures. Ando tries to expropriate a gold bar and Hiro runs him down for it. Ando wonders why Hiro's so upset, and Hiro explains about Future Ando killing him. Ando denies he would do it. He's Hiro's best friend. Hiro changes the subject, figuring they should set a trap. He searches for bait, wondering what the world's fastest thief would be willing to risk their life to get back. He finds a first place medal for the 100yd. dash from twelfth grade.

Nathan's Hospital Room: Nathan doesn't know whether to accept the governor's offer. The last time he was in power, he almost let Manhattan go boom. Peter, who's also there, isn't worried. Nathan's different, and so is everything else. Peter lets his illusion collapse, revealing his scar. He tells Nathan about the future because he wants Nathan's forgiveness. Nathan still doesn't know what to do, and Peter isn't much help since the future he knew is gone. Nathan has to make the right choice, to be the brother Peter always looked up to. Peter is going to set things right, and vanishes.

Parking Garage: Tracy drives somewhat recklessly as she gets a call from Nathan, who's agreed to become the junior senator from New York. The only condition is that Tracy be on his staff, since he's going to need an ally. Tracy pulls into her parking spot and sees the crazy-haired reporter. She hangs up. The reporter warns her that he's going to turn in the story in fifteen minutes and begs for comment. He's got footage of Niki and congressman Petrelli getting to know each-other in the Corinthian Hotel in Las Vegas. Tracy's horrified. It's not her, but he can't run the story. She snatches his laptop. When he tries to take it back, she grabs his arm and suddenly he's icing up. He freezes in moments, then crumbles into a bunch of tiny, icy bits.

Level 5: Elle looks down at Sylar, who's unconscious in one of the intact cells. Angela Petrelli appears, chewing her out. She not only took out Sylar, she also shut down the grid and allowed all the other prisoners to escape. Elle plans to start hunting them down, but Angela, who's now head of the Company since Bob's passing, has other plans. Bob's been protecting her, but now she's fired. Elle doesn't know what to do, but Angela tells her to get a new life. Elle wanders away in disgust.

Daphne's Apartment: Hiro and Ando go over the plan, which apparently involves putting Ando in danger. He's not happy, and wonders why Hiro's punishing him for something he hasn't done. Before they can resolve things, Daphne shows up. She has Hiro's formula, he has her medal[8]. She tries to take it, but Hiro can teleport faster than she can run. She gives in, although her boss isn't going to be very happy. She was about to go out and get the other half of the formula. Now it's Ando's turn to be useful. Hiro gives him the medal and sends her toward Daphne. He's not happy about it. As he steps forward, Daphne runs up and grabs the medal. Hiro stops time, but Daphne already has the medal and the formula, and she has a knife at Ando's neck. She cuts him a bit, and Hiro agrees to let her go. Time returns, and Ando's shocked Hiro let him get hurt and let Daphne get away. Hiro hid a tracking device in the ribbon, although Ando didn't know about that part of the plan. Hiro didn't trust him, and Ando has trouble believing that. The tracking device beeps. Daphne's in Berlin. They might be able to get the other piece of the formula before her. Hiro grabs Ando, and they vanish while Ando is still cleaning the cut on his neck.

Suresh Apartment: Mohinder wakes up beside Maya. Something's wrong with his hand, so he stumbles into the bathroom. As he washes his face, he sees something white on his shoulder. It looks like a scale, and he pulls it off in horror.

The Desert: Matt awakens to find a tortoise right in front of him. A voice tells him that the plant near his shoulder will give him water. Matt grabs the plant and is overjoyed when squeezing the root produces a few drips. He thanks the tortoise, and a man steps out from behind Matt, wondering why he's talking to a reptile. The man hands Matt a gourd of water. Matt's in Africa, and they have to walk. The man has a cell phone but doesn't get service out where they are. Matt demands help getting back to America, but the man refuses, calling Matt by his last name. They must spirit-walk for many miles. Matt isn't supposed to be there, and they need to find out why the future is not as the man has painted it. He doesn't provide any answers to Matt's questions, but only walks on.

Bennet House, Night: Claire comes downstairs to find her father working on the computer. He's as happy to see her as she is to see him, even though she says she's not alright after Sylar's work. She notices the gun on Noah's desk and realizes he's not home to stay.

Nathan's Hospital Room: Nathan plays chess with Linderman, who congratulates him on taking the senate seat. Nathan insists that this time, he's not going to be anyone's puppet. A nurse enters and insists he get some rest. Nathan protests that he's in the middle of a game, but he doesn't mention Linderman's name because the Nurse thinks he's playing himself. Linderman acknowledges that she can't see him.

Bennet House: Noah introduces Claire to the villains:
Knox (straight jacket man), who can absorb fear and turn it into incredible strength.
Flint (blue flames man), who can throw flames.
The German, who can manipulate magnetism.
Jesse Murphy, who's dossier shows he can manipulate sound.
They're all terrible, and Noah's one of the few people who knows enough to stop them. That's why he has to go. Claire begs to go with him, but Noah won't let her. To keep his family safe, he and Sandra have brought back Claire's Bio-Mom, Meredith Gordon.

Level 5: Scar Peter appears outside Sylar's cell and is surprised to see Sylar inside. Angela, who also stands outside, explains that all the bad guys have escaped. That never happened in Scar Peter's history. Angela reminds him of the butterfly effect, and Scar Peter tells her that he put Present Peter in Jesse's body. Angela demands he find her son and go back where he came from.

A Phone Booth: Present Peter, who's reflection in the booth glass shows Jesse, but who appears on our screens as the Peter we know, phones Nathan to warn him about Scar Peter. Unfortunately, Knox pulls him away from the phone because their ride has arrived. Peter turns around to see Flint burning a woman who lies on the ground and the German punching out the attendant before walking over to an SUV and magicking the doors open. Sirens approach, and although Peter/Jesse is horrified by the company he keeps, he notes that he no longer looks like Peter and reluctantly joins them in the SUV, which drives off.

Level 5: Angela enters Sylar's cell and removes the restraint holding down one arm. Her sons disappoint her, but Gabriel may be ready to receive a mother's guidance. Sylar grabs her hand and protests that she's not his mother. Angela leans close and tells him that he's wrong. She is.

[
1. A moment of dark comedy, given that instead Sylar opened her head and ripped out part of her brain, which cannot in any seriousness be considered "better."

2. She mentioned in the last episode that dreaming the future was her power, but last season she appeared to have the ability to influence minds of people she touched. I wonder how they'll reconcile that.

3. The butterfly effect is a restatement of chaos theory: a butterfly flapping its wings in New York can cause a tornado in Japan. Small changes in a system can have enormous consequences. The best illustration is Bradbury's short story "The Sound of Thunder."

4. I still want to call it Isaac's Loft, but that's old news. Mohinder should really get someone to clean up that floor. It's got paint all over it.

5. If I hired a very expensive detective agency, I'd WANT them to ask questions. How else are they going to find what they're looking for?

6. "God's plan." Shades of Battlestar Galactica, complete with an adviser who may or may not be a phantom.

7. This contradicts season 1, where it was shown that the cells neutralize the powers of anyone inside. Scar Peter managed to use some power or other to replace Jesse, who was in a cell, with Present Peter. That's another contradiction. It looks like they've changed the rules. I hate it when they change the rules.

8. Plot stupidity. Granted, the medal would have some sentimental value, but would a sociopath like Daphne be so attached to it she'd be willing to give up something considerably more valuable? Maybe, but it just doesn't fly with me.
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