Lauren, it's great to see you. Dinner's ready, everyone. You brought a date? No. How did the two of you meet? Lauren and I used to work together at Primatech. She is SO a date. I'm dead. He knows it. You know it. Why don't you tell us why? As far as the world is concerned, Nathan is still alive. Yeah, but I'm not me. They are your memories. His spirit and his mind are fighting for his family. I'm going to find him, and I'm going to bring him back, Mum. It's over. It isn't possible anymore. I'll find a way. Maybe I'm just not supposed to have a normal life. It sounds like you're giving up. I want to find out where this leads. Where did you get that? I stole it from my dad. You need to take me back. I need to know the truth. Your brother's powers could increase a thousand fold. It's been my life's work to keep him in the dark. How long have you been lying to me, huh? You had to be controlled. You have the power to kill millions. You have betrayed me. Aah! I know the truth, Samuel. That's why I want to ask a favour. With Edgar gone, will you do me the honour of being my right-hand man? Or should I say men? The honour would be all mine. Good, cos I need you to start by retrieving some files from the apartment of a Mr Noah Bennet. They'll be in a box marked "Primatech". Who should I give this to? Do I get to use my friends? I think they will lend themselves very nicely to the job. KNOCK ON DOOR Evening, Mr Bennet. Hello, Ms Gilmore. Come on in. You know, um... I easily could have picked you up. You do live closer to the theatre. I asked you out. Seems only fair I pick you up. Are you uncomfortable with that? No, no, no, not at all. It's just... It's been a long time since I've dated. You know, I kind of, er, skipped right over the sexual revolution. Who said anything about sex? What's all that? Oh, that's the bad guys. I think. I don't know. It's been hard to wrangle resources since Primatech folded. Mm-hmm. "Compass"? That seems to be the key component in the mystery - enough for them to kill for. I've come across two of them. Here, have a look. It was right here. Maybe you put it someplace else. No. Claire. She took it? When she was here last night. Damn it. Voice mail. Claire it's me. I know you took the compass. Whatever you're doing right now, please just stop. This is much more dangerous than you know. Call me right away. Let me guess - we're NOT going to go to the movies tonight. Give me her number. Working for the CIA has a few benefits, like waterboarding terrorists and pretty decent bagels and the ability to triangulate cell-phone calls. What is it? 703-555-0187. When we get the cell-tower locations, we can hop on Google Maps and get a general sense of where she's headed. Thank you. I owe you. It'll be OK, Noah. We'll find her. We will. We gotta be the first ones in. Dude, wait up! We came all this way to go to a carnival? I guess so. Hmm. The compass is locked right onto it. I always said I belonged in a freak show. I just never took it so literally. I know why you're here. Good. Then you'll save me from the long-winded windup. Peter, there are five stages of grief. You need to leap over denial phase and get right into the acceptance of this whole thing. and get right into the He's not dead, Mom. Sweetheart, Nathan died months ago, despite my own grand gestures of denial. No, he's in there, in Sylar. Why do you think we're still standing? Nathan kept us alive. So I'm going to find him, and I'm going to take Sylar down once and for all. How do you intend to fight him with all the powers he has? Well, it won't be too hard once I take them away. Thanks for coming, Rene. The least I can do. Please, Peter, think about what you're doing. I have. I'm going to go get Nathan back. What happens when you find out there's not a Nathan to get back? I guess I'll just settle for revenge. Maybe we shouldn't do this. What? We've been driving for 21 hours. I know. It was a stupid idea. What if we run into psycho Becky in there? She already tried to kill you once. Twice, actually. But you'll protect me, won't you? Look, I'm serious, OK? You don't have to do this. And now that I think about it, neither do I. Claire, Claire, wait. I'm here because of you, to support you no matter what. So you have to do this. Do I? We've been on the road for a day. But you've been on this road your whole life, and it's led you here. So you have to at least check it out. Claire. So glad you could make it. I know it can look a little scary from the outside, but you'll get used to it. Here, free passes. The whole night's on me - everything. You like carnivals, right? I guess. Thank you. But, um, we are just looking. Of course you are. Although I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to be seeing. It's actually more normal than it appears. This is just the "show" part of the business. We need to make money the most honest way we can - going town to town, always on the move, at least for now... Till we find a better, more permanent way to live. Hey, you two like popcorn? Who doesn't? Well, this is the best popcorn in the world, and I'm not just saying that. Mmm. Wow. That IS good. Tell you what, stay until you finish the box. Walk around on your own. Meet my family. When you're done, I'll walk you back to your car. You girls can go back to school. Fair enough? OK. Just until you finish the box. MAN: Every tattoo, a harbinger of things to come. What is it we're suppose to be looking at here? I don't know, but I've got plenty left. MAN: You never know what future will appear before your very eyes. Every tattoo, a harbinger of things to come. Her naked skin a canvas to rival van Gogh's. Step right up. Pay your money. You never know what future will appear before your very eyes. Every tattoo, a harbinger of things to come. Her naked skin a canvas to rival van Gogh's. Step right up. Pay your money. You never know what future will appear before your very eyes. Well, this looks promising. What are we supposed to do? You ask a question, and then you take my hand. And then what? You're like a fortune teller? I show you what you need to see. Like a crystal ball? Something like that. Go ahead. Do it. Am I supposed to be here? Must be some kind of projector or something, right? What, am I...am I going to have a circus act? SHE CHUCKLES This isn't the future, Claire. This is your desire. Come on, let's get out of here. LIFT BELL DINGS Hi. Hello. SHE SIGHS PETER GRUNTS AND CHOKES HE GASPS Is this all for me? You shouldn't have. No, seriously, you really, really shouldn't have. Listen, Peter. I'm pretty disappointed in you. Your plan was to syringe me in the neck with drugs. Wasn't that the old plan? I mean, don't get me wrong. Congrats for pulling it off in the first place. But fool me twice, you know? Yeah, I know. What the hell did you do? Our Haitian friend... I took his ability... Mind-erasing and power-blocking. Now give me my brother back! Nathan's pretty dead, Peter. I should know. He's still in you, and I'm going to get him back. What are you going to do... beat him out of me? Something like that. GRUNTS IN PAIN That hurts, doesn't it? No healing power. Aah! God! Oh, God! What do you want? I want to make a deal. I'll let up. I'll let you heal, but you give me Nathan. You give him back to me, body and soul. Sounds like a pretty one-sided deal to me. It is. So what's it going to be? Aah! HE LAUGHS You're going to need a lot more nails in that thing. That's fine. I'll just take away everything that's you until Nathan is the only one left. I would love to see you try. Come on, Nathan, I know you're in there. Go ahead. Kill me. Come on, I can't do this alone. Please. Pete. Is it really you? What did she mean about seeing your desires? No idea. Do you have some secret desire to be a circus performer? Not that I know of. This place is starting to give me the willies, so maybe we should just... It's kind of amazing, though. I mean, these people have all figured out a way to use their abilities. They're conning people, Claire. At least they're living out in the open. In a freak show. Look, I can think of worse things. Try having the Government hunt you down. Maybe I can be the girl who gets sawed in half every night. Now, that's something to aspire to(!) Yeah. Give me three more balls. I'm going for that big stuffed tiger. That's not fair. You've had your turn. Uh, buh-buh. Watch and learn, Missy. Three years pitching in the minors, dude. I'm going to clean you out. Ooh! Ouch! Hey, that ball was headed right down the middle. What the hell did you do? I'm not the one that pitched in the minors for three years. Double or nothing. All right, it's your money, man. How's he doing it? Watch his right hand. SHE LAUGHS Sorry. All right, little lady, your turn. So that guy was a jerk, but it doesn't give him the right to rip him off. Wow! Yay! Whoo! All right! Congratulations. Thank you so much. All right, who's next? Let's go. Come on, three balls for a dollar. Looks like our time is up. Be our next big winner. And you, sir! Come on, the little girl just won the grand prize. Evening, ladies. Hope you liked what you saw. Not really. If you're interested, er, I can show you backstage, where we all live. We'd love to. No, thanks. You're more than welcome to join us. We don't exclude anyone here. Come on, step right up! Here we go. All of southern Ohio - that's great, needle in a haystack. Hard to believe we bagged and tagged every one of these people. You're not going to find any leads in there. Carnival's a nest we never came across. I'm going to try cross-referencing these with the CIA database, see what I can find there. Let it go, Noah. Girls lie to their fathers. You're not the only one. I deserve it. Like father, like daughter. Lying is a stock in trade in our line of work. And you reap what you sow. All right, fine. If you want to wallow, have at it. Unload. I've driven everyone away with my suffocating need for control. Oh, come on. Everyone? Sandra, Claire... You. Me?! Yes. You. This ought to be good. Lauren, we... had something together. SHE LAUGHS What, at Primatech? I definitely thought you were cute, but we never had feelings for each other. We did, actually. No, we didn't. We had breakfast twice a week for almost six months, and... we talked about everything. Well, I think I would remember that. Not if you had your memory erased. You had my memory erased? No. You did it yourself. It was over before it began. We both knew it was going to end badly, and you chose the high road. I Haitian'd myself. This isn't the way I wanted to tell you... but you deserve to know the truth. And what, this - now you're single, playing the field, and you thought what, you could reignite the flame? KNOCK ON DOOR Mr Bennet? Who wants to know? Name's Eli. Uh, I'm an emissary. An emissary from where? Sullivan Brothers Carnival. You mind if I, er, come in? I'd rather you stay where you are. Now, now... where are your manners? What do you want? Something you have, and we want. We don't want anyone to get hurt. So we'll just take what we came for, and we will be on our way. Bathroom! He's a multiplier. I know. OK, that's what I call being prepared. One of them is a prime. We shoot him, we get rid of the rest. It took us two weeks to find the one in Tulsa. What's the plan here? Shoot them all and hope for the best. Gone. So are your files. From time to time, the ogre would return, always bringing presents to the boys and girls of the village. Even though the grown-ups feared him, hated him, the children knew... he was harmless, because children always know. Right? You got to admit, it's nowhere near as creepy behind the scenes. That's because it's dark out. It's just like any other carnival. Except for the part about the superpowered con artists. Everybody knows that the games at carnivals are rigged. And I don't see the problem with doling out a little karma. I mean, they let the little girl win a prize, right? They're exploiting their abilities. I don't see you running around conning people with yours. Hey, Barbie... Doyle? Hey. What are you doing here? We were just in the neighbourhood. How long have you been here? Since you helped me leave Costa Verde. I kicked around for a while, tried to stay under the radar. It didn't work out so good. And then Samuel found me, and everything changed. It is amazing living here. I finally belong someplace. I can be completely myself. You have no idea what that's like. I need to talk to you about this. Are you going to be here for a while? Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. I have to go strike my set, and I'll talk to you in a bit. OK. OK. Explain to me how you're BFFs with a carny? He kidnapped me once, tried to get my mom to shoot me, but... I got over it. Excuse me? Claire. The children want to hear one more story before they go to bed. Why don't you tell us one? No. Oh, I don't think I know any stories. Of course you do. We all have stories. Uh, OK... Hmm. Once upon a time... there was a frog. HE LAUGHS And the frog lived in a far-away land with Mom, Dad, brother, and a tadpole named Mr Muggles. CHILDREN LAUGH And the frog always wanted to be special. What is it you people want from her? It's not fair to toy with her emotions like this. She's vulnerable, you know? We live in troubling times, do we not? That doesn't answer the question. Families encompass... all manner and shape. But the defining ingredient is love. Now, we don't profess to offer much, but love, we have... in ample supply. ..something that changed everything. HE CHUCKLES I'm tired, Pete. Yeah, I know. No, I mean I'm tired. I've been trying to get out, fight my way, and I don't think I can do it anymore. I don't think I can hang on. Sure you can. HE SCOFFS AND SNIFFS You know what? Let's go get some air. I know just the place. ..And after they saved the world from total destruction, the frog went back to its family with all that it had learned, and they all lived happily ever after. LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE All right, children, time for bed. ALL GROAN No. No more stories. Come on, lets go. Good night. They love you. Who's in charge here? Sorry, sir. This is a restricted area. Where's the man in charge? You're looking at him, friend. You're not my friend. You stole my money. Well, I'm sure there must be some mistake. We don't steal money from our customers. The hell you don't. Now give me my damn money back! We offer our customers games of chance. And as such, you obviously took a chance, and you lost. The game was rigged. Or you don't possess the proper skill level to win. We all have talents, certain talents, friend - God-given gifts, but perhaps the good Lord forgot to hand a sufficient one out to you? Well, how's this for a gift. Oh, my God! OVERLAPPING SHOUTING Why isn't he fighting back? It's clear our friend has a point he has to make. Let him speak his piece. OK, that's enough! Really? I'll take you on. I'll take on any of you freaks. You can't hurt us. Remember the last time we were up here? Yep. Yeah, I do. You were standing on that edge right there... like an idiot... asking me about Dad's depression... Asking me if I could fly. Do remember what you said? I said we could both fly. No, no, no. Before that. You denied it. It was an election year. Denial was the go-to. It seems like a million years ago, huh? A lifetime. And we made it through it... Together. Made it through all the craziness, you and me. We can make it through anything, Nathan. Even death? Why not? Because this isn't me. It's not my body. Because it's Sylar's. No. It IS you. Nathan, I'm looking at YOU. You're looking at an illusion. No, it's you. Look, I need you to keep fighting in there, OK? I can't. He's killing me. And I can't hold on anymore, Pete. Yes, you can, Nathan. Look, that's - that's why you found me. That's why you came and found ME. I found you because I wanted to crucify you in Times Square. Nathan, that is not you. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Whoa. Nathan, stay with me. Hey, hey. Fight it. Aah! Come on, I need you to fight it. I need you to fight it, Nathan. Come on, stay with me, bud. Please. Come on. I'm sorry, Pete. Nathan! Pull yourself up, Nathan. Let me go, Pete. I can't do that. You need to accept that I'm gone. I need you to help me. Now, pull yourself up, please. You're going to have to carry on for the both of us, Pete. OK? Tell Mom I love her. You take care of Claire. Fight the good fight. You've always been everything that's good in the world, Pete. Nathan. And I got a feeling the world ain't seen nothing yet. I can't do this without you. You can do anything, Pete... Anything. Remember that. I love you. Nathan? Aah... I love you, Nathan. ECHOING THUD BREATHING HEAVILY (VOICE OVER) Like choosing how to contact us. Or how to shop with us. Choosing how to pay. Or choosing what to enjoy with your plans. You'll always get choices with Spark. Why did you let him do that to you? Life is a series of choices... HE INHALES SHARPLY One of the many I'm forced to make to preserve the well-being of this family. You could've defended yourself. Yeah, easily. But we're gypsies, Claire. We weigh our decisions very carefully when dealing with the outside world. The path of least resistance is sometimes the wisest. It's not right. No, it isn't. EXHALES DEEPLY We're not that different, are we? We're both learning new things about ourselves, both searching for new ways to live our lives on our own terms. But you found that out here. Have we? You all get to be what you want to be, out in the open, right in front of people. If we lie, bow our heads, keep our mouths shut... let some creep punch our face and not hit him back, oh, yeah. I've been sold a bill of goods my whole life... Taught how to be comfortable being a second-class citizen. And now I'm questioning that, and so are you. I know what you were thinking, walking around tonight, that this place is awfully strange, yet strangely familiar. Am I right? I don't know what I've been thinking. Yes, you do, and you were right. We all think it's a little strange. A carnival? HE SCOFFS It's the only life most of us have ever known. But we can be more. We can be bigger... if we can just figure out how. And I have a strong feeling, Claire Bennet, that you can help us do just that. I think it's time... for some soul searching. And you're welcome to stay a few days and do just that... before you go back to school. God, this whole night just felt like a bad Fellini film. Ooh, 21-hour drive(!) Want to take the first shift? What now? I'll see you Monday. What? I'm going to stay, just for a couple days. We got two more days before break ends, and... I know that it's hard to explain. I just... You need to see for yourself. I get it. SHE CHUCKLES I saw your face, Claire - the way you looked at them... Like you belonged... Like you knew them. God, I've never had that feeling anywhere in my whole life. I'm h-happy for you. I'll see you Monday. I hope so. I'll make this right, Lydia. It'll all make sense soon, Joseph, the gathering of the others, all of it. You've gone to great lengths to bring her here. She is awfully innocent. I'm not sure she's going to serve a purpose for you. It's not her I'm after. My brother Joseph had the right idea. He believed that alone, this family would be safe. And that idea has worked for us for years. But how long can we live like this, wandering in the desert without a home? Times change, and we need to change with them. We need to stop running, stop living in the shadows. We should be stronger. The problem is, there's simply too few of us to make a stand. If we are truly to be great, we need to grow our ranks, bring in new members. And the newest among us cannot be shackled with the same burden we've borne - wandering like nomads. They deserve a home... A promised land. Now, I've thought a lot about exactly where this homeland should be. And I keep coming back to this very spot. Here we will plant roots and build a life, a community. Here we will be oppressed no longer. Here we will live our lives on our own terms. But none of that can happen until we have gathered the rest. And when we have done that, we will return to this place. We will wander no longer. We will finally... be home. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.