Five years in the future, Hiro and Ando encounter the future Hiro in what is left of Isaac’s studio. Future Hiro tells them that five years earlier, Sylar exploded in the middle of New York, which changed everything forever.
He says that he has been working to try and find the precise moment to go back in time and change the future. That moment was the message he gave to Peter on the Subway, which we all know is “Save the cheerleader, save the world”.
Future Hiro explains that he tried stabbing Sylar to stop the explosion, but Sylar regenerated, having taken Claire’s power. Peter’s saving Claire means that Sylar is not invulnerable, and therefore Present Hiro will be able to kill Sylar, something not received that well by the visitor to the future.
They are interrupted by a security team led by Matt, who is accompanied by the Haitian. Present Hiro is captured, but Future Hiro and Ando get away. Future Hiro explains to Ando that that was Homeland Security – the world became a dark place after the explosion, and he ended up becoming a terrorist.
The only person powerful enough to help them rescue Present Hiro is Peter Petrelli, so Future Hiro and Ando travel to Las Vegas to visit Peter’s girlfriend. The girlfriend is Niki, who is a dancer at a strip club.
Hiro tells Niki that he needs to find Peter regarding the stopping of Sylar. Niki gets angry and tells them to leave. Hiro and Ando do so, but not before Niki answers Hiro’s question as to where HRG is, telling them that he’s in Texas.
After Hiro and Ando have left, Peter materialises. In their conversation, we learn that Micah is dead. Peter telekinetically turns off a TV.
Therefore this Peter has encountered both Sylar and Claude. He’s sported a scar across his face, which means he may not have met Claire, although that’s no certain, as it’s possible that he received the wound but had been unable to channel Claire’s powers before the scar formed (if he were in a coma for example), or even received the wound before he met Claire.
At a holding facility, Matt questions Present Hiro. Hiro obviously has no idea what Matt is talking about, something which puzzles Matt.
After getting nowhere, Matt informs the President that they’ve captured Hiro. The President turns out to be Nathan, who tells Matt to continue questioning Hiro. After ending his conversation with Matt, Nathan speaks to Mohinder, revealing more about the events of the past five years.
The next day will be the fifth anniversary of the day of Sylar’s explosion. During that time Mohinder research hasn’t turned up any way of turning off people’s abilities.
Measures have been put in place in place to try and control powered individuals by confining them and outlawing procreation, but this hasn’t stopped the population growing. Nathan says that the only thing left to do is exterminate them.
At Primatech Paper, it is revealed that HRG (who has cunningly changed his appearance by no longer wearing the horn-rimmed glasses) is running an underground railroad, together with Hana Gitelman. Future Hiro asks to be put in touch with some of the people he had brought to HRG – DL, Candice and Molly Walker. We haven’t seen Molly Walker yet, and no mention is made of what she can do.
HRG refuses, but then Ando mentions that Hiro saved Claire’s life by giving Peter the message. Hiro asks if Claire is actually alive, and while HRG doesn’t say anything regarding her, he agrees to help Hiro and Ando. But if Claire’s alive in this timeline then that means that Sylar couldn’t have taken her power, so how could he have regenerated when Hiro stabbed him?
Matt encounters Mohinder in Isaac’s apartment, where they examine the strings. Mohinder hypothesises that Hiro may have the ability to travel through time as well as freezing time and teleporting.
He notices that one of the focal points of the web of strings is the 4th of October, which was the day that he was on the subway with Peter when Peter claimed to have received the message from Hiro. This means that in this timeline, Hiro delivered the message.
So it wasn’t the message that will result in this future being changed. In fact everything we’ve seen so far appears to have happened in this timeline as well.
So what is the event that results in this future not occurring? That is if it is at all possible to stop his future from happening.
We now find out what has happened to Claire. She’s working as a waitress in a cocktail bar… No, sorry – she’s working as a waitress in the Burnt Toast Diner, going by the name of Sandra. She’s also changed her hair colour from blond to brunette.
Sitting in her section of the diner is HRG. She goes over to him and he tells her that someone knows about her and she needs to leave as soon as possible.
She replies that she’s tired of hiding and wants a normal life, and also mentions that the real Sandra had left HRG. She also says that she’s about to get married, to her co-worker Andy, who doesn’t know about her ability.
A news report on TV announces that two hundred individuals have been rounded up, which is the most successful operation since the passing of the Linderman Act. Claire reluctantly takes the package HRG has brought for her, and leaves him to eat his food.
Matt storms Primatech Paper with a number of armed men. He tazers Hiro, and realises that two Hiros means that he is capable of travelling through time. Hiro and Ando are rescued by Peter, who appears, freezes time and then teleports them out.
After they have made their escape, HRG appears at Primatech Paper, being the one who had called in Matt. The two of them have been working together – HRG lets Matt know about the dangerous refugees, while he is allowed to help the harmless ones. One of the harmless ones is Matt’s son, Matthew, who Matt has had to break off all ties with.
Matt’s reminiscences come to an end when he grabs hold of HRG and points a gun at him. He says that he has to explain to the President that Hiro got away and that he can’t come back empty-handed.
Matt asks HRG where Claire is, and while HRG doesn’t say anything, Matt is able to get it from his thoughts. Once he has the information, he fires his gun, presumably killing HRG.
At the Burnt Toast Diner, Claire speaks to her fiancé, asking him to elope with her. She says that she’ll explain everything, and he eventually agrees. While he goes to gather his things, she continues serving her customers and discovers that one of them is Matt.
Back at Homeland Security, Mohinder asks Present Hiro about the “Save the cheerleader, save the world” message. He tells Hiro that he heard the message when he and Peter had gone to visit Isaac.
Mohinder shows Hiro a copy of 9th Wonder that he picked up in Isaac’s apartment. It shows Hiro killed Sylar, something which never happened in this timeline.
Mohinder relays this information to Nathan back at Isaac’s apartment. Nathan says that he can’t be concerned about the past, only the future.
He says that he plans to announce that a cure has been found, which in reality will kill anybody who receives it. Mohinder’s not happy about this, but doesn’t protest that much.
Matt comes in, saying that there definitely are two Hiros, and that they have the younger one. He says he wants to put him down, but Nathan says that Mohinder should do so. Matt then tells Nathan that he has also found Claire.
Claire and Nathan talk to each other in the Petrelli Mansion in New York. Claire tries to leave, but Nathan raises his hand and she is no longer able to move.
A trickle of blood appears on Claire’s forehead, just like the one we’ve seen on all of Sylar’s other victims. At the same time, Nathan morphs into Sylar.
In Lax Vegas, Peter tells Ando that the other him died in the explosion, something which Future Hiro hadn’t told Ando. Peter says that Ando’s death is what resulted in Hiro’s change in behaviour and his obsession with changing the past.
Peter then talks to Niki about his plans to help rescue Hiro. In the conversation we learn that Micah and DL have gone, and also that Jessica has gone, although I’m not quite sure how that last one works.
Niki asks Peter why he has to help, and Peter reveals to her that he was the one who caused the explosion, not Sylar and that Nathan lied to protect him. Peter was the one who killed everybody, including Micah. Niki tells him that if he goes he needn’t bother coming back.
The assault on Homeland Security begins. Matt and Hiro’s attacking of the guards is intercut with SyNathan delivering a speech commemorating those who died and the announcement of the “cure”.
Meanwhile, Mohinder prepares a syringe to inject into Present Hiro. He tells the Haitian, who is there ensuring that Hiro doesn’t use his powers to escape, to hold Hiro’s shoulders down.
Mohinder reaches up to inject Hiro but at the last minute deliberately injects the Haitian. Mohinder frees Hiro, showing him that the killing of the Haitian was depicted by Isaac in the comic.
Future Hiro, Peter and Ando find Present Hiro and Mohinder. Future Hiro tells Present Hiro that he needs to go back. When Present Hiro says that he can’t control his powers, Future Hiro offers to take him back, but before he can do so Matt appears and shoots Future Hiro.
Peter closes the door of the room telekinetically, and while the guards bring a battering ram, Matt phones SyNathan to inform him of the situation. SyNathan flies away from the memorial where he had delivered the speech, to the surprise of the crowd. It’s never made clear whether Nathan’s ability was ever public knowledge, but my guess is that it wasn’t.
SyNathan arrives at Homeland Security and reaches through the wall to grab Peter. That explains what happened to DL then.
Peter asks who Nathan really is, and Sylar reveals his true form. The two of them face each other in the corridor, and their hands begin to pulse with energy a la Ted.
Back in the room, Mohinder picks up Future Hiro’s sword and gives it to Present Hiro. So that means that Hiro is now carrying a sword which he got from the future, which will be given to his past self and when his past self becomes the future self he’ll hand the sword back, meaning that it will be carried to the future where… I think I’ll stop right there before my head begins to hurt too much.
The door to the room threatens to break open as a result of the fight between Peter and Sylar on the other side, and so Hiro tries to teleport himself and Ando back to their own time. They arrive safely, and Hiro takes the comic out of his pocket and looks at the panel of him killing Sylar, saying that the hard part is about to come.