Heroes – “Building 26” S3E16 (airdate 2/16/09)

Costa Verde. The whole Bennet family is having breakfast together, HRG explaining that his new consulting job will keep him local for a while. Claire gets another text from “Rebel” but isn’t in the position to respond seeing how she hasn’t finished her omelet yet. Sandra asks how the college tour went; Bennet liked Brown; Claire acts weird and pouts up to her room. Bennet follows. It seems that Claire is angry about having to lie to her mom and brother again. Bennet reminds her that he is trying to protect all of them, especially in light of the government hunters being after her after the plane crash. In addition, instead of private college he has enrolled her in the local juco – she’s already registered for classes – so he can keep an eye on her. She gets another text from Rebel: warn “Alex” at the comics shop.

At the government HQ (Building 26, I will presume hereforth), Danko is debriefing his team. Nathan joins the meeting with news of their funding being doubled so the renegade Heroes can be brought in alive. Is that where my stimulus check went?

Sylar and Luke are on their road trip and Luke thinks he’s having the time of his life. Sylar thinks he’s being played with and pulls over, demanding that Luke tell him where they’re headed. Luke tries a couple of lies, which Sylar sees through immediately; Luke is still strangely (stupidly) unafraid. They start driving again, not noticing the video camera under the highway overpass that records their progress and sends footage back to Bldg. 26.

Costa Verde. Claire goes to “Alex’s” comic shop and tells him that he’s in danger and must leave immediately. Alex thinks she’s pretty and this is a total put-on set up by a buddy of his – “we don’t get many girls in here.” To convince him, Claire slices open her palm with a box cutter and holds her hand up so he can see the healing. “Your life is in danger,” she growls. Just then the bell over the door chimes. She looks up to see her father walk in. Claire turns back to Alex and snarls at him to get going. They can’t get out, however, so Alex walks up to meet Bennet (who has some parking ticket cover story), while Claire calls her dad on his cell to distract him. Alex shoves a magazine rack onto top of Bennet; he and Claire run to his car and take off. Bennet struggles to his feet and calls for back up.

India. Oh Christ – Hiro’s got another mission with destiny: he thinks he has to stop a wedding. Ando, slightly calmer, finds the bride, Anapurna, crying on her wedding day. She tells him that she’s been feeling lost and confused, asking the heavens for a sign as to whether she should marry or not. Ando sparks up his hands and she is thrilled – there’s her sign! The wedding is off! Hiro is very unhappy that Ando stole his predestined thunder.

Building 26. Abby Collins, Homeland Security, introduces herself to Nathan while Danko mutters about another bureaucrat. Anyhoo, Nathan tells Abby that the prison Homeland Security has designated for his prisoners will not be not strong enough. Abby’s like, right, ‘cuz they’re all magic. She has no idea what she’s dealing with so Nathan wants to speak to the President – he’s having trouble containing the one prisoner he has here in the building, much less when the others start coming in. Abby: That’s not going to happen; I’m your new boss and I want to see your prisoner now.

Road trip. Luke tells Sylar about his dad. Sylar reminisces. Luke says that his dad sold Sylar for money. Sylar thinks that’s just awful. FM thinks this is boring as hell.

Building 26. Nathan brings Abby to see Tracy who is chained to a chair in front of numerous heat lamps. That’s pretty clever, actually. Nathan tries to explain that they tried gloves on her but Tracy kept freezing right through them. But Abby knows Tracy from her lobbying days and is horrified at this torturous treatment. She says she will file with the Attorney General about this human rights violations – this is over, Senator Petrelli!

Costa Verde. Claire and Alex drive his little Volkswagen convertible out to the beach. Alex doesn’t understand why Bennet would be after him and Claire asks if he has a power. Alex admits that he can breathe underwater. Well, that would be it, dumbass. He says he never told anyone and didn’t know that he wasn’t alone. Claire grins at him, calling him a freak. Then she notices a car following them. They ditch the car, hiding in an alley as two cars full of agents pull up.

India. Anapurna has taken Ando and Hiro to the restaurant she owns with a friend and feeds them. She explains that the man she was supposed to marry was an arranged marriage and that she really wants no part of it. When she goes to get them more food, the Japanese men fight about Ando stealing Hiro’s thunder. Then Deepak, the furious groom, shows up and brains Ando with a pot, dragging him out of the restaurant.

Costa Verde. Bennet calls in to report Alex’s escape. Danko has seen Claire’s car parked around the corner via surveillance cameras and is suspicious. After he relays this information to Bennet, Bennet is suspicious too.

Road-trip. Sylar gets mad when Luke flexes his microwave power just to fuck with another diner customer. He tells the boy to stay focused, have a purpose – the powers are not for frivolous use. Blah blah blah, I just want to meet my dad, find out why I turned out this way. His sob story cuts through Luke’s bullshit and he writes down the address for Sylar. Sylar: “You shouldn’t have done that. Now there’s nothing to keep me from killing you.” Luke: “I’m just hoping that you won’t.” Suddenly, commandos take over the diner. It’s not nearly as cool a fight scene as the one in Luke’s house: Sylar gets shot a bunch of times before blowing out a window that he and Luke jump through. They run to the car and Sylar jumps in. But he won’t unlock the door for Luke and drives off without him. Luke watches in disbelief, shock all over his face until a commando shoots a tranquilizer in his back and drops him.

Anapurna says that Deepak will let Ando go if she goes forward with the wedding. But in the middle of the ceremony, Hiro interrupts, saying that Deepak has kidnapped his friend pluswhich Annapurna doesn’t want to get married anyway. Deepak tries to drag Anapurna off too and Hiro punches him out. Deepak is like whatever, Anapurna is too much trouble for me to marry and you can have Ando back.

Costa Verde. Bennet finds Claire as she returns to her car. She doesn’t even try to lie about what she was doing with Alex. He asks her if she understands what will happen to her if the government thinks he can’t control her. “That’s just the thing, Dad,” she replies, “you can’t.”

Building 26. Danko reports that Luke is in custody but Sylar got away. Abby comes back in with a cease and desist order for Nathan. He asks her to suspend her disbelief and imagine that these people do have powers, some of them horrific. Abby: it still doesn’t justify torture, these people are American citizens with constitutional rights. Meanwhile, Tracy has managed to work her chains free of a broken bolt. Her cell door is open too and she grabs a hostage. Everyone comes out into the corridor to see what the commotion is about. Surrounded by agents, with no escape and nothing to lose, Tracy freezes her hostage and shatters him just because she can. The agents drop her with a tranquilizer and drag her off. Nathan looks back at Abby, whose jaw is on the floor. I’m guessing that Nathan’s funding is going to be tripled now.

After the commercial, Abby takes a look at Nathan’s corkboard of renegade Heroes. He reiterates his conviction that these people are dangerous. She tells him “Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of funding.” I totally called that.

Costa Verde. Claire tells her mom that Bennet is lying to her again, but this time it’s worse, telling her about the plane crash and the abductions of all Heroes, good and bad. Then Bennet walks in with Indian takeout. Sandra sends her daughter upstairs. She is pissed, telling her husband that she can’t take it any more. They argue, loudly. Claire listens in from the stairway and is sad – even though she’s the one who started it.

Building 26. Nathan visits Tracy in her cell. He tells her to get used to the heat. Tracy grins up at him: there was a broken chain and an unlocked door - you wanted me to escape ... next time I will.

Road-trip. The commando van is pulling away from the diner when it starts to shake and rock. There are muffled shouts and then everything is quiet. The van doors open and one masked commando hops out. His boots leave bloody footprints. He pulls off his mask and it’s Sylar. He leans into the van and pulls an unconscious Luke out. Slinging the boy and a case of some kind over his shoulder, Sylar walks away in slo-mo.

India. Ando apologizes to Hiro for trying to change the course of his destiny. But Hiro says it’s okay – the point of his trip to India was to prove to himself that he didn’t need powers to be a hero. Meanwhile, Anapurna has a fax for them from Rebel: return to Los Angeles and save Parkman.

Costa Verde. Bennet comes into Claire’s bedroom carrying a suitcase. He tells Claire that Sandra has asked him to move out, and that he thinks that’s probably a good idea for now. He needs to try to be a better person to his family but he’ll still be around, don’t worry. They are both crying and she hugs her dad tight, guilt, fear and self-righteousness mixing in her expression. Bennet leaves and Claire puts her resolve face on. O-ho! She’s got Alex hidden in her closet.

Road-trip. Luke thanks for Sylar rescuing him. Sylar’s like whatever, I didn’t do it for you – now I’ve got some of their technology and can figure out how they’re tracking me.

Building 26. Nathan thinks that Danko might like to know that Mark Leggett is the name of the analyst who Tracy killed today. Nathan thought Danko would want to know … because Danko’s the one who let Tracy out. Danko says he did it to ensure that the project didn’t get tanked, which it was about to. Nathan’s pissed about it because an innocent man died and because HE’S WISHYWASHY.

Costa Verde. Bennet has some scotch-flavored drinks at his current hotel. As his vision gets blurry and he falls off his barstool, it seems as though those drinks might have been drugged since I can’t believe ol’ HRG would get blotto. And yes, drugs it is, as Parkman, Peter and Mohinder come into the bar and carry Bennet out, assuring the bartender that they’ll take care of the drunk. Very sneaky, guys!

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes