Warning: Spoiler Alert
Picking up from last week, Emily and Ren search through Renautas to find Tommy. Ren mentioned the Master of Time and Space and Emily believed he was referring to Hiro. Semantics aside, they did not find Tommy as he has been trapped in Evernow. Inside is what feels like a never-ending series of corridors. Confused Tommy walks down one, then a Matrix like metal conducting cord stabs Tommy in the back of the neck. Erica executes the transfer and just to see if it worked, using Tommy’s power to transport all of the chosen, they step outside. Beyond their Gateway, is a barren wasteland.
With the present Gateway all but deserted, Phoebe walks alone. Understanding what her fate was all along, she begins to fill with rage. Emily and Ren stumble upon the holding area where Erica is keeping her comatose Evos. There they find Otomo and the real Miko. Ren recognizes her as his Miko, but she doesn’t remember him at all.
Tommy wakes from induced slumber to find himself chasing the image of himself. Meanwhile at present Gateway, Luke, Malina and Quentin walk the deserted streets. Quentin stops them and points to the sky. The first sun flare is getting closer (for context think of the Nexus from Star Trek Generations). Quentin points to a metal door, they move to hide. Malina refuses to do nothing. Then Luke makes his stand.
Malina: I have to do something. If that solar flare hits, there won’t be much left when Tommy gets back.
Luke: The prophecy, your prophecy, it’s not time yet.
Malina: I have to do—
Luke: This is not your fate. It’s mine.
(Long pause)
Luke: I cannot be forgiven for the things that I’ve done. But you saved my life. I have to believe there is a reason for that.
Luke makes Quentin promise to get Malina to the clock tower in time. He shuts the door behind him while Quentin begs the question, what about you? Luke walks out into the street. Looks up at the flare, then down on a trinket with a picture of his wife and child. Luke absorbs the heat from the flare and begins to levitate. Luke merges with the flare and effectively dissipates the flare completely.
Jose, using his power, removes the bullet from Farah’s body. Farah wakes with one concern. Where is Malina. Just as all breathe a sigh of relief there is the sound of new voices. An accident on the highway has brought the injured to the abandoned hospital they brought Farah to. Carlos, Micah and Jose stand to play doctors as best they can for at least the moment.
The image of himself that Tommy has been chasing is not a figment of his imagination. It is literally himself. His power is strong and Tommy can be in two places at once. Luckily for him, the second Tommy is aware of what this place is. He tells his other self that he has to remember. To dig deep and find the memories that even Casper couldn’t hide forever. The first memory is of a much younger Tommy sitting on a couch with Anne as they watch the world change. The day Claire jumped, landed and healed on camera. Tommy asks who the girl is, Anne replies that the girl on the TV is in fact Tommy’s real mother. Suddenly, the single shot becomes a cascading display of Tommy’s memories. The one’s he’d forgotten. From Anne, to Angela Petrelli, to Emily, to Hiro. The cascade goes grey and while Tommy is emotional, he appears to also be focused.
Quentin tries to get Malina to the top of the clock tower by way of the stairs. One problem. Phoebe is waiting for them. Phoebe grabs Malina with her smoky arm power. Phoebe tries to continue believing that Erica is coming back for her while Quentin tries to talk her down with his gun in her face. Despite his best efforts, Phoebe is adamant about what she needs to do. She tightens her grip on Malina, forcing Quentin to do the unthinkable. In order to save the world, he has to kill his own sister.
Ren and Emily remain confused about this new Miko they’ve found and why she doesn’t know Ren when Erica’s engineer shows up. Before he can take any of them out or restrain them Otomo stabs him in the back and through the chest. Otomo and Miko share an embrace. He has a great deal to explain. Then Otomo looks to Ren and tells Miko that “this young man risked his life to save you”. Emily breaches the question of Tommy being trapped in a game. Otomo looks to Ren with approving eyes.
Otomo: Now someone needs to enter the game. Someone who knows Evernow as well as its maker. (looks to Ren)
Ren: I’m just a gamer.
Otomo: You spent hundreds of hours in Evernow. The best player I’ve ever seen. And most important, you have the heart of a warrior. That’s why I chose you. Now Reckless Ren (in Japanese subtitles) Are you ready?
(Otomo reaches out and pixelates Ren who is transported into the game)
Ren manifests in the game to find game world Miko. The game world is dying, slowly deteriorating. When it dies, so will this version of Miko. But there is a new Master of Time and Space that needs to be released. Their final mission begins. Ren and Kitana Girl begin slicing through obstacles while trying not to fall through the eroding areas in the games infrastructure.
The second and larger of the two sun flares has already made its way to Gateway. This time sending Armageddon like meteor showers with it. Quentin kneels hunched over Phoebe. Malina says its time. Large meteor like rocks pierce the concrete and steel fixtures like a baseball shot through glass windows. Malina stands in the middle of it working against the sun flare.
Tommy continues to see memories. This next one he’s not a fan of. Angela Petrelli bringing he and Malina together to test their ‘symbiotic bond’. They take each other’s hands and the result looks a lot like a space shuttle lift off minus the space shuttle. Back in the prison, Tommy runs towards Tommy again claiming he knows what to do. The voice of Miko can be heard in the distance. Miko and Ren say their relative good byes. There isn’t enough time or infrastructure left to get Kitana Girl to Ren and unlock the door in time. If the game erodes completely with Tommy still in it, that’s game over.
The rescue is a success, but the exit point puts both Ren and Tommy right in front of Erica. Erica is done playing nice. She explains that if Tommy goes back in time to stop the event, everyone in the future Gateway (Emily and Anne included) will cease to exist. Now Tommy will have to choose between present Gateway with Malina or future Gateway with Emily and Anne. Erica raises her gun to Emily to speed up his decision.
Erica: Time is running out and one of these girls has to die. You can’t be in–
Tommy: Two places at once.
Erica: Even Hiro Nakamura couldn’t do that.
Tommy: Hiro Nakamura prepared me my entire life for this. And now, I’ve had an eternity in Evernow to practice. (Grinning now) Thanks to you.
Erica: NO! That’s impossible. (Erica fires a bullet at Tommy, he freezes time and effectively splits into two Tommy’s)
The first Tommy teleports to Malina. The second stays. With time frozen he starts teleporting guards out of the room. Then Ren. Then Anne. Then Emily, but does so by kissing her and not using his hand. First Tommy unfreezes time standing before Malina. “Its about time”. She extends her hand so she can share her power with Tommy. They join hands but the effect is not working like they thought it would. Its creating an energy field to be sure, but they can’t control it. They disconnect and Malina continues to fight the good fight while Tommy teleports back. Tommy teleports back to finish the memory of the first time they joined. The same effect happened. Angela instructs a man in a lab coat to break them apart. The instant he does, he becomes a conduit for their power. They need a human splitter. The conduit will not survive, but is necessary. Tommy teleports back to two days previous. Finds his conduit and teleports him to that specific memory so the conduit can see what is required. The conduit is Noah.
Noah watches as the memory plays out again. This time Angela knows who the third ‘faceless’ person from her vision was. She seemingly stares through the wall to where Noah is standing. Then Tommy appears. He explains that he’s tried everything. Followed Hiro’s instructions. Follow the smallest thread, the tiniest butterfly.
Tommy: (To Noah) Save you save the world….What do we do.
(Noah moves in towards Tommy and puts one hand on either shoulder)
Noah: Take me back to Gateway. To the end of the world.
Noah and Tommy fight the resistance caused by Malina’s power. Noah takes her hand while Tommy declares there must be another way. “You two have your destiny, this one’s mine.” Noah extends his right arm to Tommy. With tears in his eyes Tommy reluctantly takes it. The power works just like the memory displayed. Noah feels every painful second of it but holds strong.
The second Tommy has cleared the room except for Erica. With one swift stroke, he removes Erica’s white watch with the blade of a Kitana. With Erica still frozen, Tommy takes his position in the chair. He unfreezes time. Erica’s bullet finally lands in the wall before her. Her watch falls to the floor. She turns to find Tommy in the chair. He salutes her with two fingers, places his hand to his chest and teleports out of there. Queue the villain’s long NOOOOOOOOO scream.
The ‘super’ power that is created by Malina, Tommy and Noah appears to be cutting through the sun flare. As the camera pulls back, we see that the power really just insulated the earth, protecting it as the flare passed over it. The power breaks after all are safe. The two siblings come to and discover that Noah is not dead. He’s fading and fast, but not dead yet. Tommy apologizes again. Noah replies with how proud he is as his life force gradually leaves him.
Three months later. Quentin is handcuffed to a table in an interrogation room. Two government officials demand to know who the Evos are. Because, after all, no one just saves the world for the sake of saving the world without wanting something in return.
Agent 1: So who are they?
Quentin (leans in): You want to know who they are? They’re somebody’s sister. Somebody’s brother. Daughter. Son. Grandchild.
(We see a shot of Otomo training Ren and the real Miko)
Quentin: You people. You people want them to be extraordinary but they’re not. They couldn’t be more ordinary. The only thing extraordinary is that they had the chance to be Heroes.
(A shot of Carlos testing a new toy he’s added to his suit, with Farah and Jose in the shot)
Quentin: They didn’t think about themselves. Just did the right thing. And now, they just want to be left alone.
( A shot of Tommy/Nathan going forward and Emily in the ice cream shop)
Quentin: So they could scratch out some small purpose, that can give their life some meaning, community, hope.
(Nathan turns to see something under a glass as a figure departs the shop. That fades to Malina in a high school)
Quentin: Like all the rest of us. When that darkness rolls in, and it will, they’ll be here, ready for the call, equal to the task. Without us even needing to ask.
(Nathan removes the object from under the glass)
Emily: What is it?
Nathan: I don’t know.
Quentin: See this is just the beginning man. An awakening. Now my eyes are open. Wide open. They were here to save us. So you want to know who they are? They’re you, they’re me, on our best day. So there you go. That’s who they are.
Malina walks out of Union Wells High School (yep, they’re going there) and steps into a car. Angela is in the other seat. She asks about Malina’s first day. Then Malina produces a card like the one Tommy found. Malina got a feeling when she touched it. Angela knows exactly what it means. Her father is coming to get her and Nathan and there’s nothing they can do to stop it.
. . .
End of Volume
