Heroes Episode 3.02 The Butterfly Effect

Feeling woozy and violated after her run-in with Sylar, Claire is devastated to discover that she's lost her ability to feel physical pain. With everything that's happened, feeling the pain is the only time she knows for sure that she's still human.

Angela walks through a horrific scene: a killing field, strewn with the corpses of Heroes. In a jolt, she awakens from this terrifying vision of the future, alone in her limo. She visits Future Peter to demand that he go back to wherever he came from. He doesn't realize the power of the fire he's playing with, having set the butterfly effect in motion. His actions caused Claire to be in a place that she shouldn't have been. When Peter asks what happened, Angela tells him to go see for himself.

Maya wanders Isaac's loft looking for Mohinder. He hanging from the rafters, pulsing with the wondrous power of his new abilities. He stupefies Maya by running up a wall, defying gravity. He believes it's only a matter of time before he can give or take powers from anyone - including Maya. Mohinder claims it all came from what's inside her beautiful body... in a flash, Maya and Mohinder are ripping each others' clothes off, making passionate love.

Matt Parkman has resurfaced somewhere in the wild. Under an unbearable sun, he staggers, looking for any sign of civilization in the wilderness, finally collapsing in the heat.

Sylar strolls down the street, happy as a lark with his stolen files. Agents Karina and Cruz drive up to taser him repeatedly, but he heals instantly and makes quick work of them. At Primatech, Elle takes responsibility for screwing up, insisting she can take Sylar down. Exploiting her desperate need for approval, Bob takes her off the case.

Hiro's discreet and very expensive private detectives follow up on the robbery of the formula. Discovering a fingerprint, they identify the thief as Daphne Millbrook. When Hiro prepares to teleport to her Paris apartment alone, Ando demands to know what's up. Why is Hiro acting so strange? Rather than disclose his glimpse of the future, Hiro takes Ando with him to Daphne's, a magpie's den of art treasures and gold bars.

Tracy Strauss, the Ice Queen of K Street, pitches hardball to her boss, Governor Malden. She tells him he doesn't pay her for sex, but he does pay her for advice, and she urges him to appoint Nathan to a newly vacated New York Senate seat. Malden relents, and Tracy runs to catch a flight to Odessa. In the parking lot, a scruffy reporter confronts her with claims that she was once the hottest stripper in Vegas. She denies the allegation, but the reporter says he's running his story tomorrow with or without her comments. Tracy promises to hunt and destroy him if he does, and peels out of the garage.

Wondering if she still has a soul or if she's really going to live forever, Claire sets up a video camera to tape her seventh suicide attempt. She steps into the path of an oncoming train, furious when Peter scoops her up in the nick of time. She confesses that she thinks her healing power is lame. It makes her a victim, and she wants Peter to teach her to fight back. Afraid that he'll do the wrong thing, Peter refuses apologetically, and flies off.

Tracy shows up at Nathan's hospital room to offer him the Senate seat. Recognizing her as Niki, Nathan tells her to cut the crap. After all, they had a really good time in Vegas. Tracy doesn't know what he's talking about, and tells Nathan to call her when he's made up his mind. Upon her exit, Linderman appears to tell Nathan that Tracy's offer is part of God's plan, the chance of a lifetime. Claiming that Linderman doesn't know the first thing about God's plan, Nathan shows him the door, later realizing that no one can see Linderman except for him.

Excited with her new plan to lure Sylar, Elle bounds into Bob's office, only to find that Sylar has come and gone, leaving her father dead. Elle hustles to Level 5 and tosses H.R.G. a gun just as Sylar appears. H.R.G. shoots repeatedly, dropping Sylar. But as the bullets drop out of Sylar's body one by one, H.R.G. is horrified to learn that Sylar has visited Claire and taken her healing power. Sylar makes quick work of H.R.G., and then turns to Elle, claiming that she's as much to blame as anyone for the whole mess. Summoning everything she's got, Elle blasts Sylar against the wall and passes out. She wakes to a scene of inmates escaping Level 5 amid chaos.

Hiro and Ando continue to bicker as they search Daphne's apartment for the formula. Why is Hiro treating Ando like a criminal? Hiro confesses that he saw Ando kill him in the future. Ando fights back - maybe it was someone who looked like him, or a crazy robot. Taking his cue from Batman, Hiro decides they need to set a trap for Daphne, perhaps something to ransom. Wondering what might be most dear to the world's fastest thief, Hiro chooses a high school track medal.

Nathan tells Peter that he's unsure about taking the Senate seat - look what happened the last time he held public office. Peter has a confession of his own, explaining he came from the future to kill Nathan, and wants forgiveness. He was just trying to save the world, but instead, he's inadvertently changed the future. Nathan asks Peter what he should do, but Peter will only say that Nathan has been given a chance to make the right choices.

Tracy is just pulling into her parking garage when Nathan calls to accept the Senate seat. Exhilarated, she promises to set up a press conference. The pesky reporter lies in wait for Tracy, armed with video of Niki having sex with Nathan at the Corinthian. Does she care to comment on his story now? Insisting that she's not Niki, Tracy grabs the reporter, who freezes instantly, then shatters into a million ice cubes. Unable to believe what happened, Tracy takes off.

Elle and Angela watch over Sylar, strapped down and unconscious in a Level 5 cell. Now that Bob's dead, Angela declares that she is in charge, and she's got a few changes to make, starting with Elle - she's fired. Bob had been protecting Elle for a long time, and her outburst took down the power grid and released a dozen inmates just as bad or worse than Sylar.

When Daphne arrives, Hiro holds up the medal, offering to trade it for the formula. He stops time, but Daphne can still move at a normal pace, so she holds a knife to Ando's neck, asking Hiro if he's willing to risk his friend for the formula. Hiro releases his grip on time, and Daphne speeds off with all the booty to pick up the other half of the formula.

Ando's pissed that Hiro allowed Daphne to cut him, but Hiro insists that his plan is working perfectly. Unbeknownst to Ando, he's put a tracking device on the medal, with the intent to follow Daphne to her destination. When she shows up on the GPS in Berlin, Hiro and Ando take off to retrieve both halves of the formula.

Back at Isaac's loft, Mohinder gets out of bed, knowing something isn't right with his body. An iridescent fluid pulses through his veins. Horrified, he discovers that his back is covered with oozing scales.

Across the world in Africa, Matt Parkman wakes from his delirium and starts talking to a tortoise, who shows him where to find water. After slaking his thirst, Matt recognizes that the tortoise is now a man. Usutu knows Matt's name, and also knows that he's not supposed to be in Africa, because that's not the future he painted. Matt's eager to exit the continent, but Usutu insists that he must stay and spirit walk for many miles.

Linderman plays chess with Nathan in his hospital room, telling him he made the right choice in accepting the Senate seat. Nathan explains that it'll be different this time, that he won't let Linderman manipulate him. They're interrupted by the hospital nurse, who encourages Nathan to go to sleep. He responds that he has to finish his game. The nurse can't undertand why he's playing against himself. Nathan realizes he is the only one who can see Linderman.

Claire returns home, relieved to find her dad, but quickly realizes that he's just stopping by to gather files on the escaped Level 5 inmates. He's the only one on Earth who knows enough to stop villains Knox, Flint, the German and most powerful of all, Jesse Murphy, the guy whose body Peter is stuck in. H.R.G. refuses to allow Claire to come along, revealing that he called her birth mother, Meredith, to look after the family while he's gone.

Future Peter arrives on Level 5 looking for Peter/Jesse. Furious, Angela orders him to bring her son back, and then go the hell back to where he came from. Trapped in Jesse's body, Peter calls Nathan, trying to warn him of Future Peter.

Meanwhile, the other three members of the Level 5 posse, Knox, Flint and the German, are terrorizing and killing people at a gas station - just a little fun. Peter/Jesse climbs into the SUV against his better judgment and the four horsemen roar into the night.

Back at Level 5 Angela turns her attention to Sylar, promising to give him what all sons crave from their mothers: inspiration, guidance and comfort. When Sylar insists that she isn't his mother, Angela assures him that she is.