Numbers in brackets are keyed to footnote editorial comments.

Volume III: Villains
Chapter Nine: It's Coming

We open on a montage of eclipse scenes from the first and second seasons. Mohinder thinks it's all very impressive.

Africa: Arthur continues to press his hands to Hiro's head[1]. Hiro screams. Ando shouts at him to back away and tries to tackle him, but Arthur stops him with telekinesis and throws him some distance away. Arthur's berating Hiro for messing up the one job he had been given when he hears a strange groan and turns to see a painting of an eclipse. He leaves Hiro, who stands immobile. He studies it while Ando throws himself at Hiro, knocking him to the ground. Hiro comes out of his daze and seems surprised to see Ando. When Ando demands Hiro teleport them out of danger, Hiro only looks confused and mutters something about waffles. Ando grows frantic, trying to get Hiro to do something as Arthur stalks toward them irritably. Finally, Ando demands Hiro blink and actually tries pinching Hiro's eyes shut. Hiro finally obeys just before Arthur reaches them.

Bowling Alley, Tokyo Japan: Hiro and Ando get up and dust themselves off. Hiro points out a sign indicating that they make his favourite waffles there. He wonders why Ando looks so old, then catches sight of himself in a mirror and wonders why he looks so old too. Hiro thinks he's ten.

Petrelli Office, Pinehearst Building: Sylar watches workmen repair the window Peter used as an exit. Arthur appears from thin air behind him, wondering how Peter survived the fall without any powers. Sylar's been wondering the same thing. Arthur leads Sylar to a large chamber. Gabe's hunger isn't about killing, it's about power. Arthur can show him how to take all the power he wants without killing by accessing his empathy. He knows Gabe has some because Arthur knows Gabe saved Peter from that fall. Gabe enters the chamber and the door is locked behind him. It's dark, but he can see a figure chained to the floor against the wall. Sparks fly. It's Elle. She stands up, recognizes him, and hits him with two bolts that burn him to pieces.

An Apartment: Peter, still marked from his fall, pulls himself together and tells Claire to go home. She wants to stay and help him fight. He has no powers. He demands she leave anyway. He wants her to remain innocent. Before she can reply, the door shakes under someone trying to break it down. Claire orders Peter out the fire escape while she holds them off. Peter protests, but Claire's got a plan. He leaves as Knox busts down the door and enters with Flint. They want to know where Peter is, but she refuses to tell them. They power up, but she mocks them and then throws herself through a window. She falls several storeys down to the alley, passing Peter as she goes. He scrambles down the fire escape just as she picks herself up. They start to run down the alley as Knox and Flint reach the top of the fire escape. Half-way down the alley, Peter sees the graffiti mural Scar Peter had shown him in the future, the one showing the earth breaking in two. He stops, stunned, but Claire reminds him they're being chased. He takes her to a manhole cover, and the two of them lift it long enough to climb down underneath. They need to keep moving.

Pinehearst Lab: Mohinder sulks over a microscope. Arthur enters to check on his progress. Mohinder shows him a test subject, horribly mutated. He's combined his formula with the one Pinehearst stole and can't understand why it's not working. Arthur notices that Mohinder's been studying the coming eclipse. Mohinder's noticed that all the powers he's recently seen manifested themselves after an eclipse a few years ago. There's something missing from the formula, a catalyst that changes the formula and brings out abilities without mutation. This key ingredient couldn't be stored or created synthetically. It has to be naturally occuring in a human host. Arthur realizes Kaito must have known who it was and hidden it. Arthur knows where, though, and leaves to track it down.

Pinehearst Cell: Elle's screaming and crying. Sylar killed her father. Sylar himself gets up from the floor, burnt but healing. He takes off the shreds of his shirt. Elle deserves vengeance. He'll take whatever she's got. Elle hits him with more lightning.

Primatech Offices: Matt and Daphne enter an empty hall. The place is like a ghost-town. Matt doesn't know where to go or what to do until he sees Usutu turn down another hallway ahead of them. It leads to Angela's room. Matt realizes she's in a coma and tries to get into her head. Whatever he finds there hurts. He has to help her, though. Daphne streaks off to find a nurse.

Pinehearst Office: Daphne zips in and explains what Matt's doing. She wonders if Arthur put Angela into the coma. Arthur dodges the question and reminds her that if she's unhappy, she can go back to the way she was. If Matt tries to help Angela, Arthur will be waiting.

Storm Drain: Peter and Claire stop to argue[3]. He wants her to go home. She can protect herself and him. He tells her about her future self, how she becomes a killer and shoots him. He's trying as hard as he can, and yet she's still becoming that future self. It's his fault. If Peter hadn't saved her, she would never have become the woman she is. She can't leave him because she has a favour to return. Suddenly they hear metal scraping. Peter watches as the manhole cover is moved aside and Flint and Knox climb down into the storm drain. Claire orders him to run and she goes to confront them. Unfortunately, they haven't come for Peter, they've come for her. Knox tackles her. Peter hears her screams. Knox and Flint drag her away.

Bowling Alley: Hiro and Ando sit at a table crowded with waffles. Hiro is having a pea-shooter war with a teenage girl sitting behind Ando. Hiro can't believe he's really twenty-eight. When he hears he has mastery of the time-space continuum, he's disappointed that his superpower is not more exciting. Ando demonstrates Hiro's teleporting face and Hiro thinks it's the stupidest thing he's ever seen. Hiro tries, and time slows down around him. Ando insists he try again. Hiro succeeds in stopping time, and uses this power to go throughout the bowling alley setting up pranks on almost everyone. When Ando goes to put salt on his food only to have the top of the shaker come off and dump salt all over his plate, he realizes they have a lot of work to do.

Primatech Hospital Room: Daphne returns. Matt's going into Angela's head to help. Daphne's worried it'll be dangerous. Matt's only done it once before, with his father, and it didn't work out so well. He needs Daphne to stay with him and keep an eye on him. Her presence helps. Daphne looks torn between warning him and letting him go. Matt sits in a chair beside Angela, takes her hand, and zones out.

Pinehearst Cell: Elle fries Sylar some more. Sylar's sorry. He never wanted to kill any of them, but his hunger was in control. She knows that. She saved his life. She knows what kind of person he is. Still, he understands her pain and sense of betrayal. She can let it all out on him. He can take it. She punctuates his speech with enough lightning to make his insides glow. They both fall to the ground, her exhausted and him burned but healing. She begs him to kill her and he raises one hand.

Pinehearst, Exterior: Nathan tells Tracy that his father shaped so much of his life that, if Arthur's still alive, Nathan has to know. Arthur used to take Nathan and Peter fishing in a little place called Pinehearst, and that's where the company's name has come from.

Pinehearst Office: Arthur welcomes Nathan, who stands in shock, and asks for a hug. Nathan doesn't oblige, walking around Arthur instead, staring at him. Arthur shakes Tracy's hand. Nothing happens, although Nathan watches them as though expecting something. Nathan demands to know why Arthur has done the things he's done, and Arthur asks Tracy to leave. When she's gone, Arthur goes on about Nathan's talent (politics) and his destiny. Nathan's heard it all from Linderman, but back then it was just New York. Now Arthur's talking about destroying the world. Arthur figures it's happening anyway, but Nathan's in a position to stop it. They've always been so much alike. Arthur's offering Nathan his chance to create a legacy for the Petrelli name.

Pinehearst Cell: Sylar uses his telekinesis to break Elle's chains. She begs him to kill her and take her power, to make her pain stop. He refuses. She calls them both monsters. He denies it. Her father made her the way she is, just as his mother made him. They were never good enough for their parents. Elle saved him once, and he owes her. What she did to him, setting him up to kill again, she only did because she was following orders. He forgives her, and now she has to forgive herself. Elle realizes that her pain is gone. Sylar holds up his hand and is surprised to see sparks leaping between his fingers. He's gained her power without killing her.

Storm Drain: Flint and Knox drag Claire toward the exit when Peter steps in front of them. They can let her go or die. Flint laughs, but Peter taunts him. Peter doesn't need powers to beat Flint. Knox sniffs the air, but doesn't warn Flint before the pyrokinetic lights up his hands. Peter's broken a gas pipe and that section of the tunnel is filled with gas that erupts. As they dive for cover, Claire runs from them. She and Peter escape before the flames die down.

Pinehearst Cell: Sylar and Elle sit talking. She demonstrates that she has control of her power again. Sylar tries the same demonstration, but doesn't do as well. Elle shows him a few tricks, like how to throw a lightning bolt. They thank each other for what each has done for the other. Arthur Petrelli watches the whole thing from a monitor in his office.

Bowling Alley: Hiro tries to figure out how to work his power. Ando explains, and then Hiro tests it out by teleporting behind him. The next step is for Hiro to take Ando with him. Ando suggests the Deveaux Rooftop, or Primatech. Hiro has just the place, and teleports them to a comic book shop: Sam's Comics. Ando doesn't understand how this place could help, but Hiro insists it's the source of all knowledge and wisdom.

Exterior Pinehearst: Nathan and Tracy exit the building. Arthur wants to give everyone superpowers so that they can all save the world together with Nathan as President. He doesn't know whether to believe Arthur or not. Tracy takes him to task. He's supposed to be a leader. He can't afford to not know what he believes. He needs to snap out of it. They'll got to the Justice Department. Nathan shoots down that idea. The last time he tried to spread the word, his brother came back from the future and shot him twice. Instead, he's going to Primatech to talk to his mother. Tracy's going to Washington to cover for him. Nathan will be back in touch when he knows what their next move should be. Nathan then zips up his jacket and takes off straight up.

Pinehearst Office: Arthur sorts and straightens pens and pencils on a table. Tracy walks in. He thinks she wants him to take away her power. She doesn't. She's getting used to it. She thinks they can help each other instead. Arthur doesn't look at her, intent on his sorting. In return for Arthur looking out for her after the dust settles, she's willing to offer her P.R. services. Arthur's plan requires a public face at some point, but Arthur himself is supposed to be dead, and that disqualifies him. Nathan could be that public face, but he's waffling. Tracy can make sure he makes the right decision, in return for Arthur's help.

Primatech Room: Daphne calls to Matt, who can't hear. Inside Angela's head, he catches glimpses of her dream where everyone dies, then finds himself sitting alone in Angela's hospital room. The room is bare and empty. He stands up, and is suddenly in the long hall of Primatech. Angela is at one end, shackled to a chair. Matt shouldn't have come. Arthur's too dangerous. Even if Matt gets Angela free, Arthur's locked all the doors. Matt tries each of them, and finds one open at the end of the hall. As he tells Angela about it, Daphne appears. She's there to help, but as they embrace, she stabs him with a knife. In the real world, Matt screams her name. She tries to wake him, grabs and shakes him. One hand comes away from his side covered in blood.

She pleads with him to bring her in, then grabs his hand. Suddenly, she's in the dreamscape with Matt lying on the floor bleeding. As injured as he is, he struggles away from her when she tries to help. She denies stabbing him, but the dream-Daphne appears and insists that she can't be trusted. Dream-Daphne becomes Arthur, who explains how she betrayed Matt. Daphne explains that she can't bear to go back to the way she was, but she can't let Matt die. She cares too much. He's bleeding and he has to come out of the dream or he'll die. Arthur insists she's lying. Daphne trusted the wrong people but she can't bear to lose him because she loves him. They embrace. Angela pipes up that Arthur used to love her like that. The scene changes to Bob's old office, with the four of them still present. Because Arthur still loves her like that, he's going to let her go. Arthur hesitates, then the handcuffs holding Angela to her chair fall away. Matt takes Angela's hand and the three of them leap out of the dream.

Back in the real world, Matt jumps up and feels his stomach. There is no longer any wound there. He's surprised that he was able to bring Daphne into the dream with him, and she needs to reassure him that he didn't imagine the things she said. Angela awakens. Parkman and Daphne leave in search of a doctor. On their way out, they meet Peter and Claire. Peter yells that Daphne can't be trusted, but Matt doesn't think Peter can be trusted instead. He throws Peter into a wall, furious because Peter had shot his brother and sent Matt to Africa. Peter insists it wasn't him, and Matt confirms it by listening to Peter's thoughts. He lets go of Peter and tells him his mother is awake.

Pinehearst Lab: Mohinder makes notes into his recorder while standing over the mutated test subject. He whispers an apology. The subject begs to be killed. Mohinder closes his eyes and injects the subject with something.

Comic Store, Japan: Hiro and Ando wander through the store. Ando's trying to get Hiro back on the hero track, but Hiro's too concerned about all that has changed in comics since he was ten. He spots an issue of 9th Wonders on a rack with Hiro on the cover. Ando explains that 9th Wonders chronicles their adventures and tells the future. Hiro laughs off the claim, but then Ando shows him illustrations of their current conversation in some of the comic's panels. Hiro is sceptical, but convinced. Ando flips to the back of the comic to see what happens next and finds a full-page panel showing an eclipse with the captions "It's coming." Neither of them knows what it means.

Primatech Room: Angela sits up as Peter comes in with Matt, Claire and Daphne. She warns him about his father. Peter already knows. She explains that the formula is gone, having been stolen somehow. Matt glances at Daphne who looks guilty. Nathan appears. He's talked to Arthur too. Peter and Angela have both seen the future, and it's not good. Matt's seen it too. Fortunately, there's a third piece of the formula and it won't work without the catalyst. It's in a human host. Kaito hid it, but no-one knows where. Matt figures they don't have to find it, they just have to keep Arthur from finding it. Claire remembers that, when Sylar attacked her, he saw something that made her different, special. She thinks she's the catalyst.

The final clips show two teams: Arthur's agents (Tracy, Knox, Flint, Gabe and Elle) and Angela's bunch (Nathan, Matt, Daphne, Peter, Claire). Arthur sits in his office and future-paints a picture of the eclipse while his team watches. It's coming.

33:54
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1. Plot problem? Arthur steals powers. Why is he killing everyone who dreams/paints the future? Why not just steal their ability? If I were trying to make a future, it would be nice to know first-hand how it turns out. Why does he steal everyone's power in a moment but take several seconds to truncate Hiro's memory? The key to understanding character is understanding motivation, and I don't know why Arthur is doing what he's doing. Maybe it will make sense later[2].

2. I doubt it, but there's always hope.

3. P.I.S. It makes no sense to pause for conversation when you're being chased by superpowered thugs. Especially when you're still within sight of the manhole cover they saw you go down.

4. It's not clear if Angela is using the power of Persuasion that she used on Heidi, her daughter-in-law back in season two.
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