October 27, 2009
Mailbag Idea
Please don't post comments on the blog, instead send me a message on the 9th Wonders Forum to member called mrmichaelt and if I have enough, I'll do a mailbag post and answer them. That's the plan anyway.
Part Four - Phase Three Part One
Hell. Hell is waking up every day and not knowing why you're here. Not knowing why you're breathing.
DREAM
There is only a Void, Bird's Eye Point of View, on Trevor Tanaka. He is standing in it somehow. The camera view pans down slowly to close up on Trevor's face. His eyes and mouth are covered by a DNA Symbol each.
Trevor bolts up from bed in the dark of night. He pauses.
It took somebody who loved me getting killed to find out.
OCTOBER 2, 2006
AOYAMA, JAPAN
Trevor is seated near the first row. He is dressed in black. He looks forward, at a loss for words or any evidence he is alive.
I know exactly why I'm breathing. I know exactly what I'm doing.
2004
NEW YORK
Trevor drives away from Bellevue in a delivery van. An unconscious man is laying down at the staging area.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Trevor is typing away at a laptop. The camera view is over his shoulder. It looks like building blueprints on the screen. He clicks through pages and is memorizing them.
Trevor - We're being attacked day and night for our resources by factions I never even heard of. Take one out and ten come out of the wood work to take its place. We have to start coordinating and conducting negotiations. Who knows what else is out there waiting to swallow us up.
Trevor stands up and plants his hands on the desk, arms straight.
Trevor - They don't need me there. Some of them still don't trust me. Want me distracted. Others just want me to hold their hands on every operation.
Trevor turns around and looks at the steel door, the only entrance to the room. It remains still. Nothing happened.
Trevor - Ugh. I should go see Stark after this.
Suddenly, the lights short out but not from power failure. It's like the light was drained. Only the fading sunlight leaking in through the dirty windows illuminates Trevor's room.
Trevor - Great timing. Two minutes and fifty eight minutes until a teleporter is available.
He types a combination on the laptop keyboard. The steel door begins to noticeably vibrate continuously.
Trevor- Doesn't anyone remember how to knock?
The steel door groans and crumples like a used soda can. It flies off and a thud is heard off screen. Four men enter the room.
Scott Riedel - Stay right there.
Trevor puts his hands up halfway. Riedel holds his right hand out like a gun.
Trevor - I'm just the janitor.
Mike Matheson - No, you're Trevor Tanaka.
Riedel's finger sizzles with electricity. Matheson uses ferrokinesis to summon Trevor's Strayer Voigt Infinity 1911 .45 Caliber Semi-Automatic Pistol. Matheson tucks it away.
Trevor- No one has time for small talk, neither. Isn't that right Scott Riedel: Electric Manipulation? Nor do you, Michael Matheson: Magnetism. Or you, Jim Walters: Telepathy. Not even Blaine Pryce: Flight.
Matheson - Hand over all the intelligence you have on the factions.
Trevor - That's not the magic word.
Riedel - Jimmy.
Walters walks forward. He looks at Trevor. Telepathy FX.
Walters - Tell me…what we want to know…
Trevor - 'Kay.
The room blacks out. Only Trevor and Walters are visible. Ones and zeroes zoom past Walters. His eyes bulge. The void vanishes back to normal. Blood is flowing from Walters' eyes and nose. He falls over, dead. The remaining trio look at him, then at Trevor.
Trevor - Don't look at me. I guess I should have given him the thumb drive, instead.
Matheson sighs. Annoyed, he turns to Riedel.
Matheson - Will you taser him?
Riedel shocks Trevor but he just looks at them. He doesn't flinch, like he's had enough experience with torture.
Matheson - We're going to cut our losses and kill you real ugly.
Pryce - You didn't say we were gonna kill him.
Matheson whips out a switch blade whimsically. He uses ferrokinesis to float it up and aims it at Trevor.
Matheson - Any last words?
Trevor - What's cheaper than a threat?
Matheson - Wha? What'd he say?
Trevor slowly backs away. They start to walk forward when an explosion engulfs them from underneath. Trevor grins.
Trevor - Dynamite. 'Course, you have to splurge on motion sensors.
Trevor adjusts his posture and takes a small breath with a smile on his face as if he's refreshed. He walks past the smoking corpses and picks up his gun. Trevor walks over to Pryce. Pryce is bleeding and wincing in pain on the floor. Trevor just stares at him then shoots two bullets in his head and two in his chest. He walks into another room.
Trevor - You'd better be right about this, Ms. Melody.
Trevor assembles his cell phone, types and sends a text, and disassembles the phone with record efficiency. He shoots a nearby window three times. He grabs a desk and holding it as a shield, backs up eight paces, and charges into the window. Trevor springs off it in mid-air then stops and begins to fall. The camera view closes up on Trevor's hand, reaching up. Another hand appears and grabs Trevor's. They both teleport away.
NEVADA DESERT
James - Who was it this time?
Trevor - More bottom feeders. I'm more annoyed I had to waste good ordinance on them.
James - So you didn't kill them with your super memory?
Trevor - Just the telepath. I would have teleported them into an active volcano if I could.
The camera angle shifts to six others nearby: Frank Tanner, Alexander Minner, Kupe Nukarmoi, Kurt Hasian, Clara Zhang, and Athena Leuce. James teleports.
UNDAUNTED - in Heroes title font - graces across the panel.
PHASE THREE - PART ONE: THE JANITOR - in Heroes title font -
Trevor - Yeah. See ya.
Trevor fishes out a paper and pen and walks over to the others. Frank Tanner is seated on the ground and looks unconscious. Alexander Minner is knelt near Tanner and is drawing X's, O's, and arrows in the sand. Athena Leuce stands three paces away from them and holds her hands out, eyes closed. Clara Zhang swings her right foot across the sand.
Kupe Nukarmoi - I stopped reading after Mary Jane died.
Kurt Hasian - It got fixed after that. Didn't see Gorgan as Venom coming.
Trevor - Let me guess, we're an oasis?
Leuce's eyes are still closed but she grins. Pan out, cactus replace the people.
Tanner comes to. He points at Minner's drawing. Minner rubs some out and redraws. Trevor hands over the paper to Zhang. It looks like the blueprints he memorized earlier.
Trevor - Just in case. Can't be too prepared.
Zhang nods and walks over to Minner, who is explaining the strategy to everyone. Zhang half smiles and teleports. Standing outside the crowd, Trevor reloads his gun with a new clip. Hasian looks at it, peeping out from the huddle.
Zhang appears to another unit. The building is now visible and some others, Virco Sloan, Samuel Whitman, Luna Yu, and Marcus Kane, are standing more closer to it. Azuteor, Carson Ford, John Bishop, and Kurt Kelly walk up to her. Bishop turns to the people up ahead and holds his right hand out. Force fields form around them. Kelly walks past Bishop. An RPG Launcher appears in his hands. The camera view follows the RPG as it races to the building. An explosion rocks it.
Whitman and Sloan run into the building. Seconds later, a light burst erupts from the smoke. Yu and Kane follow inside. They use their powers to slam the stunned and hurt highly evolved beings aside and immobilize them. Red bolts shoot out from Yu. Whitman inspects a crate.
Whitman - Yup, looks like ours alright.
Whitman grabs two crates and runs out at super speed. Kane uses his free hand to telekinetically push the half a dozen outside. Sloan manipulates a shadow under several and they vanish. Yu and Kane step into it, then Sloan and they vanish, too.
The frontline and the recovered resources pop out of Bishop's shadow. They all gather around, all three units. The resources, Tanner, Minner, Leuce, Sloan, Whitman, and Yu are teleported with Zhang.
Carson Ford - What now, fearless leader?
Trevor - Bishop shields us.
Bishop - Huh?
A column of fire surrounds them. Bishop quickly reacts and generates a force field.
Trevor - You didn't smell that?
The fire clears. A pyrokinetic appears behind the wave.
Trevor - Pyrokinetic sentry makes ten as predicted.
Ford - I'll take care of 'Sparky.'
A tornado forms around the sentry. His flames snuff out and he struggles to breath then passes out. Ford dismisses the wind. It flows past Azuteor. His scarf flows among the remnants of the wind.
Trevor - I hope that was asphyxiation. Mr. Nukarmoi, if you will.
Nukarmoi summons enough sand to cover up the building area.
Ford - A bit overkill. Can we go now?
Trevor - Azuteor.
Trevor blinks at Azuteor. Azuteor manipulates gravity around Trevor. An invisible man groans from the sudden increase in weight. Hasian walks over and turns him Turquoise. Without bothering to turn around, Trevor shoots behind him and connects with the Turquoise Man's head. He falls over, dead.
Trevor - Match him to the sand, Truk. Then we can go home.
Ford - Ah, there's always one more.
Nukarmoi summons a SUV.
Trevor - We need to drive to the nearest pick up point. Shotgun!
They climb into the SUV.
Hasian - So Kane, do you prefer Power Absorption or Power Theft? Is it the same as Ability Replication?
Everyone groans.
DREAM
There is only a Void, Bird's Eye Point of View, on Trevor Tanaka. He is standing in it somehow. The camera view pans down slowly to close up on Trevor's face. His eyes and mouth are covered by a DNA Symbol each.
Trevor bolts up from bed in the dark of night. He pauses.
It took somebody who loved me getting killed to find out.
OCTOBER 2, 2006
AOYAMA, JAPAN
Trevor is seated near the first row. He is dressed in black. He looks forward, at a loss for words or any evidence he is alive.
I know exactly why I'm breathing. I know exactly what I'm doing.
2004
NEW YORK
Trevor drives away from Bellevue in a delivery van. An unconscious man is laying down at the staging area.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Trevor is typing away at a laptop. The camera view is over his shoulder. It looks like building blueprints on the screen. He clicks through pages and is memorizing them.
Trevor - We're being attacked day and night for our resources by factions I never even heard of. Take one out and ten come out of the wood work to take its place. We have to start coordinating and conducting negotiations. Who knows what else is out there waiting to swallow us up.
Trevor stands up and plants his hands on the desk, arms straight.
Trevor - They don't need me there. Some of them still don't trust me. Want me distracted. Others just want me to hold their hands on every operation.
Trevor turns around and looks at the steel door, the only entrance to the room. It remains still. Nothing happened.
Trevor - Ugh. I should go see Stark after this.
Suddenly, the lights short out but not from power failure. It's like the light was drained. Only the fading sunlight leaking in through the dirty windows illuminates Trevor's room.
Trevor - Great timing. Two minutes and fifty eight minutes until a teleporter is available.
He types a combination on the laptop keyboard. The steel door begins to noticeably vibrate continuously.
Trevor- Doesn't anyone remember how to knock?
The steel door groans and crumples like a used soda can. It flies off and a thud is heard off screen. Four men enter the room.
Scott Riedel - Stay right there.
Trevor puts his hands up halfway. Riedel holds his right hand out like a gun.
Trevor - I'm just the janitor.
Mike Matheson - No, you're Trevor Tanaka.
Riedel's finger sizzles with electricity. Matheson uses ferrokinesis to summon Trevor's Strayer Voigt Infinity 1911 .45 Caliber Semi-Automatic Pistol. Matheson tucks it away.
Trevor- No one has time for small talk, neither. Isn't that right Scott Riedel: Electric Manipulation? Nor do you, Michael Matheson: Magnetism. Or you, Jim Walters: Telepathy. Not even Blaine Pryce: Flight.
Matheson - Hand over all the intelligence you have on the factions.
Trevor - That's not the magic word.
Riedel - Jimmy.
Walters walks forward. He looks at Trevor. Telepathy FX.
Walters - Tell me…what we want to know…
Trevor - 'Kay.
The room blacks out. Only Trevor and Walters are visible. Ones and zeroes zoom past Walters. His eyes bulge. The void vanishes back to normal. Blood is flowing from Walters' eyes and nose. He falls over, dead. The remaining trio look at him, then at Trevor.
Trevor - Don't look at me. I guess I should have given him the thumb drive, instead.
Matheson sighs. Annoyed, he turns to Riedel.
Matheson - Will you taser him?
Riedel shocks Trevor but he just looks at them. He doesn't flinch, like he's had enough experience with torture.
Matheson - We're going to cut our losses and kill you real ugly.
Pryce - You didn't say we were gonna kill him.
Matheson whips out a switch blade whimsically. He uses ferrokinesis to float it up and aims it at Trevor.
Matheson - Any last words?
Trevor - What's cheaper than a threat?
Matheson - Wha? What'd he say?
Trevor slowly backs away. They start to walk forward when an explosion engulfs them from underneath. Trevor grins.
Trevor - Dynamite. 'Course, you have to splurge on motion sensors.
Trevor adjusts his posture and takes a small breath with a smile on his face as if he's refreshed. He walks past the smoking corpses and picks up his gun. Trevor walks over to Pryce. Pryce is bleeding and wincing in pain on the floor. Trevor just stares at him then shoots two bullets in his head and two in his chest. He walks into another room.
Trevor - You'd better be right about this, Ms. Melody.
Trevor assembles his cell phone, types and sends a text, and disassembles the phone with record efficiency. He shoots a nearby window three times. He grabs a desk and holding it as a shield, backs up eight paces, and charges into the window. Trevor springs off it in mid-air then stops and begins to fall. The camera view closes up on Trevor's hand, reaching up. Another hand appears and grabs Trevor's. They both teleport away.
NEVADA DESERT
James - Who was it this time?
Trevor - More bottom feeders. I'm more annoyed I had to waste good ordinance on them.
James - So you didn't kill them with your super memory?
Trevor - Just the telepath. I would have teleported them into an active volcano if I could.
The camera angle shifts to six others nearby: Frank Tanner, Alexander Minner, Kupe Nukarmoi, Kurt Hasian, Clara Zhang, and Athena Leuce. James teleports.
UNDAUNTED - in Heroes title font - graces across the panel.
PHASE THREE - PART ONE: THE JANITOR - in Heroes title font -
Trevor - Yeah. See ya.
Trevor fishes out a paper and pen and walks over to the others. Frank Tanner is seated on the ground and looks unconscious. Alexander Minner is knelt near Tanner and is drawing X's, O's, and arrows in the sand. Athena Leuce stands three paces away from them and holds her hands out, eyes closed. Clara Zhang swings her right foot across the sand.
Kupe Nukarmoi - I stopped reading after Mary Jane died.
Kurt Hasian - It got fixed after that. Didn't see Gorgan as Venom coming.
Trevor - Let me guess, we're an oasis?
Leuce's eyes are still closed but she grins. Pan out, cactus replace the people.
Tanner comes to. He points at Minner's drawing. Minner rubs some out and redraws. Trevor hands over the paper to Zhang. It looks like the blueprints he memorized earlier.
Trevor - Just in case. Can't be too prepared.
Zhang nods and walks over to Minner, who is explaining the strategy to everyone. Zhang half smiles and teleports. Standing outside the crowd, Trevor reloads his gun with a new clip. Hasian looks at it, peeping out from the huddle.
Zhang appears to another unit. The building is now visible and some others, Virco Sloan, Samuel Whitman, Luna Yu, and Marcus Kane, are standing more closer to it. Azuteor, Carson Ford, John Bishop, and Kurt Kelly walk up to her. Bishop turns to the people up ahead and holds his right hand out. Force fields form around them. Kelly walks past Bishop. An RPG Launcher appears in his hands. The camera view follows the RPG as it races to the building. An explosion rocks it.
Whitman and Sloan run into the building. Seconds later, a light burst erupts from the smoke. Yu and Kane follow inside. They use their powers to slam the stunned and hurt highly evolved beings aside and immobilize them. Red bolts shoot out from Yu. Whitman inspects a crate.
Whitman - Yup, looks like ours alright.
Whitman grabs two crates and runs out at super speed. Kane uses his free hand to telekinetically push the half a dozen outside. Sloan manipulates a shadow under several and they vanish. Yu and Kane step into it, then Sloan and they vanish, too.
The frontline and the recovered resources pop out of Bishop's shadow. They all gather around, all three units. The resources, Tanner, Minner, Leuce, Sloan, Whitman, and Yu are teleported with Zhang.
Carson Ford - What now, fearless leader?
Trevor - Bishop shields us.
Bishop - Huh?
A column of fire surrounds them. Bishop quickly reacts and generates a force field.
Trevor - You didn't smell that?
The fire clears. A pyrokinetic appears behind the wave.
Trevor - Pyrokinetic sentry makes ten as predicted.
Ford - I'll take care of 'Sparky.'
A tornado forms around the sentry. His flames snuff out and he struggles to breath then passes out. Ford dismisses the wind. It flows past Azuteor. His scarf flows among the remnants of the wind.
Trevor - I hope that was asphyxiation. Mr. Nukarmoi, if you will.
Nukarmoi summons enough sand to cover up the building area.
Ford - A bit overkill. Can we go now?
Trevor - Azuteor.
Trevor blinks at Azuteor. Azuteor manipulates gravity around Trevor. An invisible man groans from the sudden increase in weight. Hasian walks over and turns him Turquoise. Without bothering to turn around, Trevor shoots behind him and connects with the Turquoise Man's head. He falls over, dead.
Trevor - Match him to the sand, Truk. Then we can go home.
Ford - Ah, there's always one more.
Nukarmoi summons a SUV.
Trevor - We need to drive to the nearest pick up point. Shotgun!
They climb into the SUV.
Hasian - So Kane, do you prefer Power Absorption or Power Theft? Is it the same as Ability Replication?
Everyone groans.
Commentary - Undaunted Part Five
The epic conclusion to the first arc! It was wild ride, and after awhile, it wasn't me writing, Trevor took over for the most part. And we begin with...more banter!
So we start from where we left off with James getting Trevor. Now there's a big pow wow with all the Undaunted crew at the Garden of the Gods. I decided to make the big problem deal with hype surrounding HSG's upcoming Phase 3 that would allow Factions to declare enemies and attack each other which was a tie in to the Carnival...two birds with one stone.
And imagine, that Trevor has this rep of being the crazed loner, you think anyone else in the group would believe him right away? That's where it came important that I establish Seal's relationship with Trevor beforehand. He's sort of the lone person that believes, and luckily he's the leader, too.
A month later, HERO inspired me to change this section just a tiny bit. It sort of came to me as it always does, on how to change a sentence to make it funnier and reference 9th Wonders babble even more. Trevor comes up with this plan and everyone is skeptical, a few of them thought of it, then Seal comes forward and reveals he and a bunch of other faction leaders were working on a similar plan. But then Seal saves his butt by asking everyone to give their opinion one at a time through his power of empathy.
And I bring up the fact that Trevor wasn't read as another rumor among Undaunted, a mere set up to lead to another dark humorous moment and it leads to the group falling in with the plan, only if Seal reads Trevor in front of everyone. And I played with the montage again and replaying events I revealed in previous stories. I thought it'd be fitting that on the image of Samuel, that Seal starts to lose control. I only did this because in the grand scheme of powers on Heroes there's always someone that can resist it or some weakness that comes with the power. Here, Trevor has so much memories and thoughts stored in his mind, Seal begins to get overloaded with trying to empathize (and it doesn't help that Trevor's a little insane in the membrane) and we get these weird nightmare scenes with the DNA Symbols, a callback to young Trevor's nightmares.
And so Trevor goes into detail about his form of the plan and a new montage begins. I imagined how these squads would be like and used classification from AT files to justify it. Maximize powers by teaming them up with complementary ones. This was a set up for the next bunch of stories (there's always a set up somewhere).
I imagined the Heroes theme playing over the muted scene of Seal talking to everyone and the camera revolves around everyone and zone in on a couple Undaunted members while Trevor recites the full Lewis Carroll quote, that Leona used when she texted him in China, in his monologue.
Then I end the story with a "OOOO" moment and revealing Trevor's intention to confront Leona Mills. And like when a volume ends on Heroes, you get a short prologue of the next volume. I did the same here with a classic reveal of Trevor and Seal at Mable's Diner as Leona comes to wait on them. Threw in Tim as a reference to iStory, too. And the ultimate of callbacks, Seal makes the same comment about Mills that Trevor did.
All in all, this was so much fun to write except the part when I get the flow at 12:30 in the morning. I'm happy with the arc, what it became and where its going. I hope some of you did, too.
So we start from where we left off with James getting Trevor. Now there's a big pow wow with all the Undaunted crew at the Garden of the Gods. I decided to make the big problem deal with hype surrounding HSG's upcoming Phase 3 that would allow Factions to declare enemies and attack each other which was a tie in to the Carnival...two birds with one stone.
And imagine, that Trevor has this rep of being the crazed loner, you think anyone else in the group would believe him right away? That's where it came important that I establish Seal's relationship with Trevor beforehand. He's sort of the lone person that believes, and luckily he's the leader, too.
A month later, HERO inspired me to change this section just a tiny bit. It sort of came to me as it always does, on how to change a sentence to make it funnier and reference 9th Wonders babble even more. Trevor comes up with this plan and everyone is skeptical, a few of them thought of it, then Seal comes forward and reveals he and a bunch of other faction leaders were working on a similar plan. But then Seal saves his butt by asking everyone to give their opinion one at a time through his power of empathy.
And I bring up the fact that Trevor wasn't read as another rumor among Undaunted, a mere set up to lead to another dark humorous moment and it leads to the group falling in with the plan, only if Seal reads Trevor in front of everyone. And I played with the montage again and replaying events I revealed in previous stories. I thought it'd be fitting that on the image of Samuel, that Seal starts to lose control. I only did this because in the grand scheme of powers on Heroes there's always someone that can resist it or some weakness that comes with the power. Here, Trevor has so much memories and thoughts stored in his mind, Seal begins to get overloaded with trying to empathize (and it doesn't help that Trevor's a little insane in the membrane) and we get these weird nightmare scenes with the DNA Symbols, a callback to young Trevor's nightmares.
And so Trevor goes into detail about his form of the plan and a new montage begins. I imagined how these squads would be like and used classification from AT files to justify it. Maximize powers by teaming them up with complementary ones. This was a set up for the next bunch of stories (there's always a set up somewhere).
I imagined the Heroes theme playing over the muted scene of Seal talking to everyone and the camera revolves around everyone and zone in on a couple Undaunted members while Trevor recites the full Lewis Carroll quote, that Leona used when she texted him in China, in his monologue.
Then I end the story with a "OOOO" moment and revealing Trevor's intention to confront Leona Mills. And like when a volume ends on Heroes, you get a short prologue of the next volume. I did the same here with a classic reveal of Trevor and Seal at Mable's Diner as Leona comes to wait on them. Threw in Tim as a reference to iStory, too. And the ultimate of callbacks, Seal makes the same comment about Mills that Trevor did.
All in all, this was so much fun to write except the part when I get the flow at 12:30 in the morning. I'm happy with the arc, what it became and where its going. I hope some of you did, too.
Part Three - Undaunted Part Five
LATE SUMMER 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
THE GARDEN OF THE GODS
[9th Wonders Board, Heroes Survival Game, Factions, Undaunted]
James and Trevor land near the field where Trevor first met Seal, leader of the faction Undaunted. James inches away from Trevor. He nods once to Trevor. They turn and face the field.
Trevor - "There's always an exception."
Trevor makes light of the rule that Trevor broke, teleporting them directly to the field instead of at the start of the trail.
[Reference to Part Three]
James - "Isn't that how it always starts?"
Trevor - "The moral gray?"
James - "Murder."
Trevor - "Why, ever teleport anyone into space? How about the Sun? No…shark-infested waters?"
James - "Quit it."
There is a circle of people, members of Undaunted, formed around a single person, Seal. Seal sees them and motions them to come. Some in the crowd turn to look. Murmurs are heard.
[Volume Five "Orientation" and The Carnival]
Seal - "That's everyone."
James and Trevor step forward and joins the group.
Seal - "Several of us have reported meeting strangers not from any faction we met before. Each time, a circus or carnival is mentioned. It's some sort of code…"
[Reference to Part Four]
Trevor steps into the open and cuts in.
Trevor - "It's literal."
Everyone turns to Trevor.
Seal - "Your investigation turned up some leads?"
Trevor - "The lead."
Seal backs up into the circle and Trevor walks to the center.
Trevor - "The rogue Company agent, Eric Thompson Junior has formed ties to a highly mobile faction that uses a carnival as a cover for their powers. We don't have time to but I assume for those who met them, they were in the vicinity of a carnival attraction. Only some of us were approached because they need specific powers. They are preparing for something big."
[iStory Book Six]
Seal - "Big?"
Trevor - "They are building an army."
Murmurs erupt.
"Just a guess."
"He's speculating."
"Where's his proof?"
Trevor - "I remember everything. Words. Images. Body language. I remember and I put it all together, one by one, into the truth. Eric Lee Harrison met two ex-Building 26 special agents in Costa Verde, California. Weeks later, Magdelana Muller was kidnapped. A short time later, two raw recruits were assassinated. Things are escalating. If we continue to do nothing, we lose. People will die and lives will change, forever. Up until now, it has been a fragile armistice between factions. Not anymore. Now, we are either an ally or an enemy."
[iStory Book Six and reference to Part One]
A voice from the crowd - "But why now?"
Trevor - "For the last 50 years, evolution has manifested in the human race. Highly evolved beings emerged. They like anyone else. They hid among the populace and procreated. Now, we have reached a flashpoint. Why did this happen? Natural Selection. But there was no check on us so its up to us to sort through the consequences."
[Charles Darwin]
Seal - "What do you suggest, Trevor?"
Trevor - "Start at the bottom. Work our way up the food chain and accumulate resources. I have compiled eight pages and counting of known and unknown factions. This is Survival of the Fittest."
[Heroes Survival Game, Phase Two]
Voice - "Like we didn't already come up with that idea."
Voice of disdain - "Really? What's with all the Biology references, Darwin?"
Trevor - "Darwin. I-Ching. Bruce Lee. Improvise. We draw lessons from the past but we can't live there."
[Collateral]
Seal exhales and walks up to Trevor. He turns to the crowd.
Seal - "I agree with Trevor. I've been working with other factions on a similar idea. But I want everyone to tell me how they feel about this. One at a time, okay?"
Everyone nods in approval. Trevor walks away and sits on the ground.
A Nearby Voice - "I heard he's the only one that wasn't read by Seal."
[Reference to Part Three]
Another - "Why is that?"
Without looking at them, Trevor answers.
Trevor - "My head isn't a nice place to visit."
[Justice League, Batman, "Only A Dream" Part Two]
The two freeze and walk away.
SOME TIME LATER
"You enjoy scaring the cupcakes out of them, don't you?"
Trevor looks up, it's Seal.
Trevor - "I was shooting for fearful inspiration."
Seal - "Most of them don't believe you. They want me to read you. That's the only way to make them go along with the plan."
Trevor - "What I said was true. It won't be a dance through the rainbows with unicorns in there."
Seal - "If that's the case, I've got aspirin in my back pocket."
Seal reaches his hand forward, waiting for Trevor.
Trevor - "Do I need to concentrate or anything?"
Seal - "No, I'll do the leg work."
Trevor reaches his hand forward, Seal reaches, then Trevor quickly grabs him.
Trevor - "It better be Extra Strength."
[Extra Strength Tylenol PM]
Seal is about to laugh the pauses. The point of view zooms into his eyes.
Leona Mills steps out of her coffin.
[Reference to Part Two]
Above Seal various images float past him, they are of Trevor's past.
Sam's Comics: The Rebellion, Claire Bennet, Rachel Mills, and Callum.
[iStory Book Six Chapter Five "Yesterday's Angels]
Sidewalk: Trevor stands over his stalker from Part Three.
[Reference to Part Three]
Bushes outside a house: Trevor reaches for Callum who fades.
[iStory Book Six Chapter Five "Yesterday's Angels]
Looking into a van with a blood stained leather jacket.
[iStory Book Six Chapter Five "Yesterday's Angels]
The DNA Symbol scratched into his parents' LA home.
[Reference to Part Four]
The shady bar: Samuel Sullivan.
Seal gasps for air but something goes wrong. Images start piling out faster and faster and out of order. The eclipse on December 14, 2001. Trevor kills Agent Dulahey's partner. Trevor is enraged after opening his parents' message. Trevor snaps in a straitjacket. Trevor holds his dead girlfriend. Trevor shoots two Company agents with one of their standard issue guns, execution style. Agent Park furiously punches Trevor.
[Heroes Survival Game - Biography and Parts One to Four]
Then the images pause on the TANAKA headstone of Trevor's girlfriend in Aoyama, Japan. The headstone explodes. Ones and zeroes flood out and carry Seal away into a black void. The numbers change into DNA Symbols and smother Seal. He hears a voice.
"Seal!"
Seal looks up at a white flash and envelops the void.
Trevor shoves Seal away from him. Seal takes a big gasp of air and rests his hands on his knees.
Seal - "I…"
Trevor - "I'll skip the told you so. Well?"
Seal - "How should we do this?"
Trevor - "Squads. Match up powers and personality. At least one cerebral, one biological, one elemental, and one temporal/spatial. Then special strikers…front line offense, mid-range, and long-range. We need to gather up the ones with teleportation capabilities and place them strategically. Set up new outposts. New signals. New Messages. Change them up every couple of hours."
[Heroes Evolutions, Assignment Tracker 2]
Seal nods and stands. He waives everyone back into a circle. They were all watching him and Trevor. They believe.
Trevor - You can either take action or hope for a miracle. We have to be unpredictable.
I wonder if I've been changed in the night.
[Lewis Carroll]
Muted montage begins. Seal orates like he hasn't orated before.
Let me think.
Mags' clone consoles the real deal.
Was I same when I got up this morning?
A tiny Eric Lee Harrison stands on the shoulder of James, the Teleporter.
[DC Comics, The Atom and Hawkman]
I almost think I can remember feeling a little different.
Case watches Seal.
But if I'm not the same, the next question is.
James teleports a group of five away.
"Who in the world am I?"
A finger traces a doorway.
Ah, that is the great puzzle.
UNDAUNTED PART FIVE: UNPREDICTABLE - in Heroes title font
Trevor. The point of view shifts 180 degrees to the field. The field and people turn into ones and zeroes for a second then back to normal. He's been memorizing the teams and anything else.
Trevor - "It's coming."
[Reference to Part Two]
Only Seal and Trevor are left.
Seal - "She was beautiful, Trevor. And you were so different."
Trevor - "We all were."
Seal - "What now?"
Trevor - "We're going to pay an old friend a long overdue visit."
Seal is silent, he doesn't understand. James appears, wiping off a bloody nose with the back of his palm.
[Volume Four and Five, Hiro Nakamura and Arnold, Teleportation]
James - "Where to?"
Trevor - "Lyneboro, Connecticut."
[iStory Book Five]
THE END OF SPECIAL ONE: UNDAUNTED - in Heroes title font
SPECIAL TWO
PHASE THREE
[Heroes Survival Game, Phase Three]
LYNEBORO, CONNECTICUT
MABLE'S DINER
The staging area where the waitresses pick up plates is buzzing. It's breakfast time.
Leona Mills lays down a plate for The Neighbor, Tim. She winks at him. He smiles and shrugs.
[iStory Book Five]
Mills walks over to another table. The two patrons are hidden behind their menus.
Leona - "What can I get you two?"
Close up on Leona. She is shocked as the menus are lowered on the table nearly out of frame.
Trevor - "I'll take the Whole Truth."
Seal - "She's younger than I thought."
[Reference to Part Two]
TO BE CONTINUED
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
THE GARDEN OF THE GODS
[9th Wonders Board, Heroes Survival Game, Factions, Undaunted]
James and Trevor land near the field where Trevor first met Seal, leader of the faction Undaunted. James inches away from Trevor. He nods once to Trevor. They turn and face the field.
Trevor - "There's always an exception."
Trevor makes light of the rule that Trevor broke, teleporting them directly to the field instead of at the start of the trail.
[Reference to Part Three]
James - "Isn't that how it always starts?"
Trevor - "The moral gray?"
James - "Murder."
Trevor - "Why, ever teleport anyone into space? How about the Sun? No…shark-infested waters?"
James - "Quit it."
There is a circle of people, members of Undaunted, formed around a single person, Seal. Seal sees them and motions them to come. Some in the crowd turn to look. Murmurs are heard.
[Volume Five "Orientation" and The Carnival]
Seal - "That's everyone."
James and Trevor step forward and joins the group.
Seal - "Several of us have reported meeting strangers not from any faction we met before. Each time, a circus or carnival is mentioned. It's some sort of code…"
[Reference to Part Four]
Trevor steps into the open and cuts in.
Trevor - "It's literal."
Everyone turns to Trevor.
Seal - "Your investigation turned up some leads?"
Trevor - "The lead."
Seal backs up into the circle and Trevor walks to the center.
Trevor - "The rogue Company agent, Eric Thompson Junior has formed ties to a highly mobile faction that uses a carnival as a cover for their powers. We don't have time to but I assume for those who met them, they were in the vicinity of a carnival attraction. Only some of us were approached because they need specific powers. They are preparing for something big."
[iStory Book Six]
Seal - "Big?"
Trevor - "They are building an army."
Murmurs erupt.
"Just a guess."
"He's speculating."
"Where's his proof?"
Trevor - "I remember everything. Words. Images. Body language. I remember and I put it all together, one by one, into the truth. Eric Lee Harrison met two ex-Building 26 special agents in Costa Verde, California. Weeks later, Magdelana Muller was kidnapped. A short time later, two raw recruits were assassinated. Things are escalating. If we continue to do nothing, we lose. People will die and lives will change, forever. Up until now, it has been a fragile armistice between factions. Not anymore. Now, we are either an ally or an enemy."
[iStory Book Six and reference to Part One]
A voice from the crowd - "But why now?"
Trevor - "For the last 50 years, evolution has manifested in the human race. Highly evolved beings emerged. They like anyone else. They hid among the populace and procreated. Now, we have reached a flashpoint. Why did this happen? Natural Selection. But there was no check on us so its up to us to sort through the consequences."
[Charles Darwin]
Seal - "What do you suggest, Trevor?"
Trevor - "Start at the bottom. Work our way up the food chain and accumulate resources. I have compiled eight pages and counting of known and unknown factions. This is Survival of the Fittest."
[Heroes Survival Game, Phase Two]
Voice - "Like we didn't already come up with that idea."
Voice of disdain - "Really? What's with all the Biology references, Darwin?"
Trevor - "Darwin. I-Ching. Bruce Lee. Improvise. We draw lessons from the past but we can't live there."
[Collateral]
Seal exhales and walks up to Trevor. He turns to the crowd.
Seal - "I agree with Trevor. I've been working with other factions on a similar idea. But I want everyone to tell me how they feel about this. One at a time, okay?"
Everyone nods in approval. Trevor walks away and sits on the ground.
A Nearby Voice - "I heard he's the only one that wasn't read by Seal."
[Reference to Part Three]
Another - "Why is that?"
Without looking at them, Trevor answers.
Trevor - "My head isn't a nice place to visit."
[Justice League, Batman, "Only A Dream" Part Two]
The two freeze and walk away.
SOME TIME LATER
"You enjoy scaring the cupcakes out of them, don't you?"
Trevor looks up, it's Seal.
Trevor - "I was shooting for fearful inspiration."
Seal - "Most of them don't believe you. They want me to read you. That's the only way to make them go along with the plan."
Trevor - "What I said was true. It won't be a dance through the rainbows with unicorns in there."
Seal - "If that's the case, I've got aspirin in my back pocket."
Seal reaches his hand forward, waiting for Trevor.
Trevor - "Do I need to concentrate or anything?"
Seal - "No, I'll do the leg work."
Trevor reaches his hand forward, Seal reaches, then Trevor quickly grabs him.
Trevor - "It better be Extra Strength."
[Extra Strength Tylenol PM]
Seal is about to laugh the pauses. The point of view zooms into his eyes.
Leona Mills steps out of her coffin.
[Reference to Part Two]
Above Seal various images float past him, they are of Trevor's past.
Sam's Comics: The Rebellion, Claire Bennet, Rachel Mills, and Callum.
[iStory Book Six Chapter Five "Yesterday's Angels]
Sidewalk: Trevor stands over his stalker from Part Three.
[Reference to Part Three]
Bushes outside a house: Trevor reaches for Callum who fades.
[iStory Book Six Chapter Five "Yesterday's Angels]
Looking into a van with a blood stained leather jacket.
[iStory Book Six Chapter Five "Yesterday's Angels]
The DNA Symbol scratched into his parents' LA home.
[Reference to Part Four]
The shady bar: Samuel Sullivan.
Seal gasps for air but something goes wrong. Images start piling out faster and faster and out of order. The eclipse on December 14, 2001. Trevor kills Agent Dulahey's partner. Trevor is enraged after opening his parents' message. Trevor snaps in a straitjacket. Trevor holds his dead girlfriend. Trevor shoots two Company agents with one of their standard issue guns, execution style. Agent Park furiously punches Trevor.
[Heroes Survival Game - Biography and Parts One to Four]
Then the images pause on the TANAKA headstone of Trevor's girlfriend in Aoyama, Japan. The headstone explodes. Ones and zeroes flood out and carry Seal away into a black void. The numbers change into DNA Symbols and smother Seal. He hears a voice.
"Seal!"
Seal looks up at a white flash and envelops the void.
Trevor shoves Seal away from him. Seal takes a big gasp of air and rests his hands on his knees.
Seal - "I…"
Trevor - "I'll skip the told you so. Well?"
Seal - "How should we do this?"
Trevor - "Squads. Match up powers and personality. At least one cerebral, one biological, one elemental, and one temporal/spatial. Then special strikers…front line offense, mid-range, and long-range. We need to gather up the ones with teleportation capabilities and place them strategically. Set up new outposts. New signals. New Messages. Change them up every couple of hours."
[Heroes Evolutions, Assignment Tracker 2]
Seal nods and stands. He waives everyone back into a circle. They were all watching him and Trevor. They believe.
Trevor - You can either take action or hope for a miracle. We have to be unpredictable.
I wonder if I've been changed in the night.
[Lewis Carroll]
Muted montage begins. Seal orates like he hasn't orated before.
Let me think.
Mags' clone consoles the real deal.
Was I same when I got up this morning?
A tiny Eric Lee Harrison stands on the shoulder of James, the Teleporter.
[DC Comics, The Atom and Hawkman]
I almost think I can remember feeling a little different.
Case watches Seal.
But if I'm not the same, the next question is.
James teleports a group of five away.
"Who in the world am I?"
A finger traces a doorway.
Ah, that is the great puzzle.
UNDAUNTED PART FIVE: UNPREDICTABLE - in Heroes title font
Trevor. The point of view shifts 180 degrees to the field. The field and people turn into ones and zeroes for a second then back to normal. He's been memorizing the teams and anything else.
Trevor - "It's coming."
[Reference to Part Two]
Only Seal and Trevor are left.
Seal - "She was beautiful, Trevor. And you were so different."
Trevor - "We all were."
Seal - "What now?"
Trevor - "We're going to pay an old friend a long overdue visit."
Seal is silent, he doesn't understand. James appears, wiping off a bloody nose with the back of his palm.
[Volume Four and Five, Hiro Nakamura and Arnold, Teleportation]
James - "Where to?"
Trevor - "Lyneboro, Connecticut."
[iStory Book Five]
THE END OF SPECIAL ONE: UNDAUNTED - in Heroes title font
SPECIAL TWO
PHASE THREE
[Heroes Survival Game, Phase Three]
LYNEBORO, CONNECTICUT
MABLE'S DINER
The staging area where the waitresses pick up plates is buzzing. It's breakfast time.
Leona Mills lays down a plate for The Neighbor, Tim. She winks at him. He smiles and shrugs.
[iStory Book Five]
Mills walks over to another table. The two patrons are hidden behind their menus.
Leona - "What can I get you two?"
Close up on Leona. She is shocked as the menus are lowered on the table nearly out of frame.
Trevor - "I'll take the Whole Truth."
Seal - "She's younger than I thought."
[Reference to Part Two]
TO BE CONTINUED
Commentary - Undaunted Part Four
This was my Carnival tie-in before writing the conclusion. I tie it in with a text message. And it just so happens that one of Undaunted's pick up points is near a seedy bar.
HOME
And so I explore Trevor's past again. With the reveal about him being insane, one wonders what about his parents? So I have Trevor decide to go confront them only to find an empty home. I also had the desire to establish that long before Trevor manifested his ability, that he had this reoccurring nightmare about manifesting, which I pick up on after part five, which involves the DNA Symbol. This ties into the nightmares that Molly Walker had and the childhood drawings of Richard Drucker. Inexplicably, these symbols are ingrained in specials' lives since their birth and its an important motif of Heroes.
But then Trevor pulls back and regrets even going back home. What does he do? Drink and be funny. And so it was here that he briefly encountered Samuel Sullivan. And with what limited knowledge I had, starting writing the character and made it so he knew about Trevor and expressed that by drawing the Symbol. This brings up the red flag in Trevor's drunken state and he splits and gets back to the task at hand, the meeting.
Throw in some banter with James and I end part four on the day Trevor manifested. So the title of part four ties into all the stories, Trevor gets an offer from Samuel to join the Carnival and Trevor finds an offer to reunite with his family, and finally we learn that Trevor got an offer to enroll at NYU placing him in New York when he manifested. So Bellevue happens shortly after this flashback. There's also the one line that Trevor graduated high school early. I decided to add that to establish that he's always been a little ahead of the curve. And we end on another important Heroes motif...the Eclipse.
About Trevor in the bar, some of those responses are those I made in high school. What do you want to be when you grow up? I thought it was a ridiculous question. Or my gripe with people calling their children kids. Always annoys me.
HOME
And so I explore Trevor's past again. With the reveal about him being insane, one wonders what about his parents? So I have Trevor decide to go confront them only to find an empty home. I also had the desire to establish that long before Trevor manifested his ability, that he had this reoccurring nightmare about manifesting, which I pick up on after part five, which involves the DNA Symbol. This ties into the nightmares that Molly Walker had and the childhood drawings of Richard Drucker. Inexplicably, these symbols are ingrained in specials' lives since their birth and its an important motif of Heroes.
But then Trevor pulls back and regrets even going back home. What does he do? Drink and be funny. And so it was here that he briefly encountered Samuel Sullivan. And with what limited knowledge I had, starting writing the character and made it so he knew about Trevor and expressed that by drawing the Symbol. This brings up the red flag in Trevor's drunken state and he splits and gets back to the task at hand, the meeting.
Throw in some banter with James and I end part four on the day Trevor manifested. So the title of part four ties into all the stories, Trevor gets an offer from Samuel to join the Carnival and Trevor finds an offer to reunite with his family, and finally we learn that Trevor got an offer to enroll at NYU placing him in New York when he manifested. So Bellevue happens shortly after this flashback. There's also the one line that Trevor graduated high school early. I decided to add that to establish that he's always been a little ahead of the curve. And we end on another important Heroes motif...the Eclipse.
About Trevor in the bar, some of those responses are those I made in high school. What do you want to be when you grow up? I thought it was a ridiculous question. Or my gripe with people calling their children kids. Always annoys me.
Part Three - Undaunted Part Four
LATE SUMMER 2007
COSTA VERDE, CALIFORNIA
Exterior - Sam's Comics - Trevor exits from the employee entrance in the alley. He re-assembles his cell phone and turns it on.
It reads: "1 New Message"
He selects it and the point of view closes in on the screen: MEETING
Trevor - Something is wrong. Repetition. Then the unexpected. Escalation. The Pattern is changing.
[Fringe]
Trevor breaks thought and disassembles the cell phone.
Trevor - This is my last chance. Erase the last of my self-doubt. Take care of unfinished business.
Several hours later…LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Trevor walks up to a house, one floor, surrounded by a white picket fence. The fence is dilapidated and broken off in some parts. A realty sign with 'FORECLOSURE' is in the front yard. He opens the front gate carefully and slowly. The front door is open and rocking in the breeze.
Inside, the living room is bare and stripped down, similar to Stephen Canfield's home in Volume 3. Trevor hears footsteps. A homeless man appears from the hall. The man freezes up after seeing Trevor.
[Volume Three]
Trevor - "I have two questions. Answer them and I never saw you."
Bum - "Shoot."
Trevor - "How long has this house been vacant?"
Bum - "Came here back in uh…April. Foreclosure sign was already up."
Trevor - "Was there anything in here when you first came?"
Bum - "Place was cleaned out. I only use it for sleeping. Bunch of scratches in the corner room, though."
Trevor - "Thank you. You've been very helpful."
Bum - "If you want it, no problem, man."
Trevor - "It doesn't belong to me."
Trevor walks into the hallway, right past the homeless man.
Bum - "You're one of them, aren't you?"
[Heroes, Motifs, The Company, One of Us, One of Them]
Trevor pauses in the hallway with his back turned to the homeless man.
Trevor - "I'm nobody."
[Odyssey]
Trevor keeps on walking to the corner room. There is only one window and it is sealed. It is closer to the ceiling than the floor. The carpeting is still in. There is a strip of wallpaper still up on one side of the room.
Trevor places his right hand flat on the wallpaper and stares at it. He rips the wallpaper off and throws it behind him. The wallpaper drifts to the ground. The point of view shifts back to the wall.
The DNA Symbol is scratched into the wall, maybe from a pocket knife, at about waist level.
[Heroes, Motifs, The DNA Symbol]
Trevor traces his index finger along through the carving at each point from top to bottom like he formed an 'S'
Trevor - "I never did figure you out."
[Implied past about nightmares]
Trevor turns to leave and looks down at the wallpaper. A folded piece line paper is taped to the backside of the wallpaper. Trevor rips it off and puts it into his back pocket. He paces out of the backdoor through the kitchen across from the room.
LATE AFTERNOON
SAFEHOUSE
A small, square room. There is an industrial metal desk in the center. Trevor is seated staring at the piece of paper.
Trevor - One more sliver of information. I need this. I do.
He tears along the taped portion. A folded roll of US Dollar Bills tumbles out. The Bill on the outside is a $50. The inside of the line paper that can be seen reads: "You can find us here:"
Trevor - "December 14, 2001. That was another life. That was someone else. If I were still the same, I'd go and I'd say, "I'm alive. I missed you both. We have so much to catch up on.""
Without reading the paper, Trevor crumbles it into a wad and hurls it into the corner enraged and frustrated. He turns and swats the money to the floor. He reaches under the desk and walks forward. He kicks in the wall, revealing a passage, and leaves.
Exterior - Explosion
TWILIGHT
Interior - The Angry Skunk Bar - Trevor drinks a bottle near the bartender, Milosh. He polishes his glass glancing at Trevor.
Milosh - "You should slow down, pal."
Trevor - "Please don't be a stereotype, tonight."
Milosh shuts up and walks away glaring at Trevor. He holds back. Trevor is a stranger and he doesn't know what his power is. A man sits down next to Trevor. Milosh looks at him, waiting for an order.
Man - "Let me catch my wind first, barkeep."
He puts his hand into the shady bowl of nuts like a spider attacking its prey. He tilts his head toward Trevor. Trevor doesn't notice or doesn't care.
Man - "You look a little lost."
Trevor - "We're all a little lost."
Man - "And the kids, they used to be brilliant. All they had to do to make it right was runaway to the circus."
Trevor - "Goats have kids. People have children."
Man - "Ah yes, but you couldn't tell the difference, could ya?"
The man cackles at his own joke.
Trevor - "I was never into the circus. The clowns were the worst."
[The Carnival, Samuel Sullivan]
Man - "It's a common fear…"
Trevor - "They remind me too much about the real world."
The man is intrigued.
Man - "How so?"
Trevor - "They reflect back to us the comedy and tragedy of our lives. How we try in vain to hide who or what we really are, only to end up like pale-faces spirits lost in our bodies."
The man motions to Milosh and points at Trevor.
Man - "I'll have what he's having."
Man - "That's why it feels so good to be yourself, doesn't it?"
Trevor - "What's that supposed to mean?"
Man - "Well…what'd you want to be when you grow up?"
Trevor - "Someone else. Anyone else. A child wouldn't know what he wants to be as a man."
Man - "I said astronaut."
Trevor laughs and takes another drink.
The man reaches over and touches the ring of condensation that formed under Trevor's drink. He shapes it into something. Trevor looks.
Man - "You should come with me. Take in a show."
The water mark is shaped into a DNA Symbol.
[Heroes, Motifs, The DNA Symbol]
Trevor stands up normally and tosses money on the table.
Trevor - "I don't lean that way, but I'm flattered."
Man - "You won't have to hide anymore. Don't have to be alone."
Trevor - "I am alone. No matter where I go, who I'm with, or what I do."
The man drinks from his bottle.
Man - "Suit yourself, then. I can tell you're not circus material."
He looks back, Trevor is already gone. He cracks a smile and turns to Milosh.
Man - "Maybe it's time to head east and find some greener pastures."
Bird's eye point of view - The man leaves the shady bar and strolls away. Pan up to the other side of the street, Trevor is watching from the rooftop.
Trevor - Strike three. There is another faction. They are watching others. Recruiting others. Killing. Why? Are we warheads in a new and unseen arms race? The escalation is already happening.
James teleports in behind him.
James - "There you are. Everyone's waiting."
Trevor - "Then, let's go."
James - "What, no comeback this time? No witty retort?"
Trevor grabs his left arm.
Trevor - "Now."
James eyes study him and realize Trevor's urgency. They teleport away.
UNDAUNTED PART FOUR: OFFER - in Heroes title font -
DECEMBER 14, 2001
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
NYU Tour Guide Stooge - "And that concludes the official tour. If you will follow me, there will be a reception with light refreshments and snacks."
The crowd files into the nearby building except for a group of three: a mother, a father, and Trevor.
Mom - "That was nice."
Dad - "Yeah."
Mom - "Well, hon, what did you think?"
Trevor - "Nice."
[Vague reference to Butler dinner in Volume Two]
Mom - "They offered you a full scholarship."
Trevor - "I'm sure they do that for all the kids who graduate high school early."
Trevor's dad laughs.
Trevor - "Let's go get some lunch."
Dad - "I thought you'd never ask."
They walk away from the building smiling and laughing. The point of view shifts into bird's eye. Trevor looks up toward the camera (to the sky) and can't stop looking for some reason as he walks on. The view shifts to the sky. The Eclipse.
[Heroes, Motifs, The Eclipse]
TO BE CONCLUDED - in Heroes font
NEXT: UNDAUNTED PART FIVE: UNPREDICTABLE
Trevor Tanaka returns to the Garden of the Gods and finds himself at the forefront of a rare meeting with every Undaunted member in attendance. What is going on? How will they react to Trevor's news? Don't miss the conclusion- a lead in to the upcoming Volume 5: Redemption airing on September 21. Coming Soon!
COSTA VERDE, CALIFORNIA
Exterior - Sam's Comics - Trevor exits from the employee entrance in the alley. He re-assembles his cell phone and turns it on.
It reads: "1 New Message"
He selects it and the point of view closes in on the screen: MEETING
Trevor - Something is wrong. Repetition. Then the unexpected. Escalation. The Pattern is changing.
[Fringe]
Trevor breaks thought and disassembles the cell phone.
Trevor - This is my last chance. Erase the last of my self-doubt. Take care of unfinished business.
Several hours later…LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Trevor walks up to a house, one floor, surrounded by a white picket fence. The fence is dilapidated and broken off in some parts. A realty sign with 'FORECLOSURE' is in the front yard. He opens the front gate carefully and slowly. The front door is open and rocking in the breeze.
Inside, the living room is bare and stripped down, similar to Stephen Canfield's home in Volume 3. Trevor hears footsteps. A homeless man appears from the hall. The man freezes up after seeing Trevor.
[Volume Three]
Trevor - "I have two questions. Answer them and I never saw you."
Bum - "Shoot."
Trevor - "How long has this house been vacant?"
Bum - "Came here back in uh…April. Foreclosure sign was already up."
Trevor - "Was there anything in here when you first came?"
Bum - "Place was cleaned out. I only use it for sleeping. Bunch of scratches in the corner room, though."
Trevor - "Thank you. You've been very helpful."
Bum - "If you want it, no problem, man."
Trevor - "It doesn't belong to me."
Trevor walks into the hallway, right past the homeless man.
Bum - "You're one of them, aren't you?"
[Heroes, Motifs, The Company, One of Us, One of Them]
Trevor pauses in the hallway with his back turned to the homeless man.
Trevor - "I'm nobody."
[Odyssey]
Trevor keeps on walking to the corner room. There is only one window and it is sealed. It is closer to the ceiling than the floor. The carpeting is still in. There is a strip of wallpaper still up on one side of the room.
Trevor places his right hand flat on the wallpaper and stares at it. He rips the wallpaper off and throws it behind him. The wallpaper drifts to the ground. The point of view shifts back to the wall.
The DNA Symbol is scratched into the wall, maybe from a pocket knife, at about waist level.
[Heroes, Motifs, The DNA Symbol]
Trevor traces his index finger along through the carving at each point from top to bottom like he formed an 'S'
Trevor - "I never did figure you out."
[Implied past about nightmares]
Trevor turns to leave and looks down at the wallpaper. A folded piece line paper is taped to the backside of the wallpaper. Trevor rips it off and puts it into his back pocket. He paces out of the backdoor through the kitchen across from the room.
LATE AFTERNOON
SAFEHOUSE
A small, square room. There is an industrial metal desk in the center. Trevor is seated staring at the piece of paper.
Trevor - One more sliver of information. I need this. I do.
He tears along the taped portion. A folded roll of US Dollar Bills tumbles out. The Bill on the outside is a $50. The inside of the line paper that can be seen reads: "You can find us here:"
Trevor - "December 14, 2001. That was another life. That was someone else. If I were still the same, I'd go and I'd say, "I'm alive. I missed you both. We have so much to catch up on.""
Without reading the paper, Trevor crumbles it into a wad and hurls it into the corner enraged and frustrated. He turns and swats the money to the floor. He reaches under the desk and walks forward. He kicks in the wall, revealing a passage, and leaves.
Exterior - Explosion
TWILIGHT
Interior - The Angry Skunk Bar - Trevor drinks a bottle near the bartender, Milosh. He polishes his glass glancing at Trevor.
Milosh - "You should slow down, pal."
Trevor - "Please don't be a stereotype, tonight."
Milosh shuts up and walks away glaring at Trevor. He holds back. Trevor is a stranger and he doesn't know what his power is. A man sits down next to Trevor. Milosh looks at him, waiting for an order.
Man - "Let me catch my wind first, barkeep."
He puts his hand into the shady bowl of nuts like a spider attacking its prey. He tilts his head toward Trevor. Trevor doesn't notice or doesn't care.
Man - "You look a little lost."
Trevor - "We're all a little lost."
Man - "And the kids, they used to be brilliant. All they had to do to make it right was runaway to the circus."
Trevor - "Goats have kids. People have children."
Man - "Ah yes, but you couldn't tell the difference, could ya?"
The man cackles at his own joke.
Trevor - "I was never into the circus. The clowns were the worst."
[The Carnival, Samuel Sullivan]
Man - "It's a common fear…"
Trevor - "They remind me too much about the real world."
The man is intrigued.
Man - "How so?"
Trevor - "They reflect back to us the comedy and tragedy of our lives. How we try in vain to hide who or what we really are, only to end up like pale-faces spirits lost in our bodies."
The man motions to Milosh and points at Trevor.
Man - "I'll have what he's having."
Man - "That's why it feels so good to be yourself, doesn't it?"
Trevor - "What's that supposed to mean?"
Man - "Well…what'd you want to be when you grow up?"
Trevor - "Someone else. Anyone else. A child wouldn't know what he wants to be as a man."
Man - "I said astronaut."
Trevor laughs and takes another drink.
The man reaches over and touches the ring of condensation that formed under Trevor's drink. He shapes it into something. Trevor looks.
Man - "You should come with me. Take in a show."
The water mark is shaped into a DNA Symbol.
[Heroes, Motifs, The DNA Symbol]
Trevor stands up normally and tosses money on the table.
Trevor - "I don't lean that way, but I'm flattered."
Man - "You won't have to hide anymore. Don't have to be alone."
Trevor - "I am alone. No matter where I go, who I'm with, or what I do."
The man drinks from his bottle.
Man - "Suit yourself, then. I can tell you're not circus material."
He looks back, Trevor is already gone. He cracks a smile and turns to Milosh.
Man - "Maybe it's time to head east and find some greener pastures."
Bird's eye point of view - The man leaves the shady bar and strolls away. Pan up to the other side of the street, Trevor is watching from the rooftop.
Trevor - Strike three. There is another faction. They are watching others. Recruiting others. Killing. Why? Are we warheads in a new and unseen arms race? The escalation is already happening.
James teleports in behind him.
James - "There you are. Everyone's waiting."
Trevor - "Then, let's go."
James - "What, no comeback this time? No witty retort?"
Trevor grabs his left arm.
Trevor - "Now."
James eyes study him and realize Trevor's urgency. They teleport away.
UNDAUNTED PART FOUR: OFFER - in Heroes title font -
DECEMBER 14, 2001
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
NYU Tour Guide Stooge - "And that concludes the official tour. If you will follow me, there will be a reception with light refreshments and snacks."
The crowd files into the nearby building except for a group of three: a mother, a father, and Trevor.
Mom - "That was nice."
Dad - "Yeah."
Mom - "Well, hon, what did you think?"
Trevor - "Nice."
[Vague reference to Butler dinner in Volume Two]
Mom - "They offered you a full scholarship."
Trevor - "I'm sure they do that for all the kids who graduate high school early."
Trevor's dad laughs.
Trevor - "Let's go get some lunch."
Dad - "I thought you'd never ask."
They walk away from the building smiling and laughing. The point of view shifts into bird's eye. Trevor looks up toward the camera (to the sky) and can't stop looking for some reason as he walks on. The view shifts to the sky. The Eclipse.
[Heroes, Motifs, The Eclipse]
TO BE CONCLUDED - in Heroes font
NEXT: UNDAUNTED PART FIVE: UNPREDICTABLE
Trevor Tanaka returns to the Garden of the Gods and finds himself at the forefront of a rare meeting with every Undaunted member in attendance. What is going on? How will they react to Trevor's news? Don't miss the conclusion- a lead in to the upcoming Volume 5: Redemption airing on September 21. Coming Soon!
Commentary - Undaunted Part Three
This part would become my take on the effect of manifestations on the wrong people. Not everyone gets a power and gets to live through it on a TV show. A lot of people can't accept it and they snap and they end up in the nuthouse for years. The temporary plight of Niki Sanders and Level 5 influenced me to explore Trevor's manifestation and take it up a notch. Because all of a sudden you can remember everything, how you not go mad from storing all that information in your mind, worse so if you just manifested and have no idea how to control that power. He really did go crazy. And this lends to the Company's later conclusions about his psyche, and how he decides to kill, and everything else that comes after.
BELLEVUE
But I presented it intertwined with other events to confuse the reader and make them think Trevor was caught by these agents that are chasing him. And this where I showcase Trevor's power and his uncanny knowledge of pop culture and of course, an Uluru shout out. If that's Trevor or Uluru talking, I leave that up to speculation. Quite frankly, I'd rather it be that Uluru is an aspect of every advanced ability that appears in everyone...eventually what got superseded by the Hunger (see Peter in Volume 3). That's the face I was going for, but more intense.
And I had to write in Heroes trivia. I always thought the fake expiration date on Mohinder's taxi license was funny so I had to reference it somehow and here it is, sort of like a conspiracy buff being interrogated, he spouts some weird gibberish very like the Question on Justice League Unlimited.
The stardust line is important, of course. If you haven't read Neil Gaiman, I feel sorry for you. It is a set up for a C-Story...OMG...a C-Story?! But of course, I give the one clue that this A-Story and the B-Story are two different stories. 339. Aother important setup was when Shell says "Dammit" and used it as another red herring later on in the A Story. I'm so evil...
The Voice was something I wanted to do to redeem Sanjog after those Writers Strike period GN's. I wanted to see, how would Sanjog try to help a special whose insane? Appear as he did to Mohinder or as a voice and it's a no win situation. He's nuts, remember? So with Sanjog's last line, it's supposed to mirror what the doctor is saying, "You came to me for help" and remind Trevor for the briefest moment and jilt him. So after two years, Trevor uses his power again this time, with a feeling of clarity, and snaps out of it. Then everything peels away and the image changes to reality where he's in Bellevue.
CHINA
And the B-Story is set in China and is the first time Trevor begins attacking agents openly, here Shell and Park, from the evsdropr arc, are his prey. But here, he's really just testing them to see what kind of field training agents get. And I purposefully ended it with Park beating the living daylights out of him to fool the reader into thinking the A-Story was the same, just later on when he was in a Company cell.
SEAL
And so the C-Story picks up from when Trevor leaves Leona Mills' warehouse in part two. The man he met at Harold Square was none other than James Kelly, the Teleporter, who I references in part one so it all comes together. And so beings their relationship of banter.
I take the opportunity to tease and jab the heck out of Heroes Survival Game, because I care and continue on with Trevor's sense of humor and develop it even more. I also made sure I didn't mess up with Seal's character. Thanks for the input, HERO. It was important that I told this story the way I did to set up part five: to see Trevor and Seal interact and that Trevor never got read before being let in.
PRESENT
And it ends back in the present between Trevor's appearance in iStory when he's running to meet up with the squad staking out the house and he knocks out Callum. I wanted to settle that he did memorize those fighting books and movies, he's fit, and he knows how to use his power. I imagine on the evolutionary tree, enhanced memory can easily diverge into Adoptive Muscle Memory (Monica Dawson) or into Intuitive Aptitude rather than progress into Telepathy. So I made this scene where he kicks the crap out of a spy, whether this spy is a Carnie or from another faction, is up to the reader to decide. Trevor knows exactly where to hit, time the hits, and how to hit. Then I end on a humorous note. He's pumping with adrenaline, blood all over him, and he calls for a ride.
BELLEVUE
But I presented it intertwined with other events to confuse the reader and make them think Trevor was caught by these agents that are chasing him. And this where I showcase Trevor's power and his uncanny knowledge of pop culture and of course, an Uluru shout out. If that's Trevor or Uluru talking, I leave that up to speculation. Quite frankly, I'd rather it be that Uluru is an aspect of every advanced ability that appears in everyone...eventually what got superseded by the Hunger (see Peter in Volume 3). That's the face I was going for, but more intense.
And I had to write in Heroes trivia. I always thought the fake expiration date on Mohinder's taxi license was funny so I had to reference it somehow and here it is, sort of like a conspiracy buff being interrogated, he spouts some weird gibberish very like the Question on Justice League Unlimited.
The stardust line is important, of course. If you haven't read Neil Gaiman, I feel sorry for you. It is a set up for a C-Story...OMG...a C-Story?! But of course, I give the one clue that this A-Story and the B-Story are two different stories. 339. Aother important setup was when Shell says "Dammit" and used it as another red herring later on in the A Story. I'm so evil...
The Voice was something I wanted to do to redeem Sanjog after those Writers Strike period GN's. I wanted to see, how would Sanjog try to help a special whose insane? Appear as he did to Mohinder or as a voice and it's a no win situation. He's nuts, remember? So with Sanjog's last line, it's supposed to mirror what the doctor is saying, "You came to me for help" and remind Trevor for the briefest moment and jilt him. So after two years, Trevor uses his power again this time, with a feeling of clarity, and snaps out of it. Then everything peels away and the image changes to reality where he's in Bellevue.
CHINA
And the B-Story is set in China and is the first time Trevor begins attacking agents openly, here Shell and Park, from the evsdropr arc, are his prey. But here, he's really just testing them to see what kind of field training agents get. And I purposefully ended it with Park beating the living daylights out of him to fool the reader into thinking the A-Story was the same, just later on when he was in a Company cell.
SEAL
And so the C-Story picks up from when Trevor leaves Leona Mills' warehouse in part two. The man he met at Harold Square was none other than James Kelly, the Teleporter, who I references in part one so it all comes together. And so beings their relationship of banter.
I take the opportunity to tease and jab the heck out of Heroes Survival Game, because I care and continue on with Trevor's sense of humor and develop it even more. I also made sure I didn't mess up with Seal's character. Thanks for the input, HERO. It was important that I told this story the way I did to set up part five: to see Trevor and Seal interact and that Trevor never got read before being let in.
PRESENT
And it ends back in the present between Trevor's appearance in iStory when he's running to meet up with the squad staking out the house and he knocks out Callum. I wanted to settle that he did memorize those fighting books and movies, he's fit, and he knows how to use his power. I imagine on the evolutionary tree, enhanced memory can easily diverge into Adoptive Muscle Memory (Monica Dawson) or into Intuitive Aptitude rather than progress into Telepathy. So I made this scene where he kicks the crap out of a spy, whether this spy is a Carnie or from another faction, is up to the reader to decide. Trevor knows exactly where to hit, time the hits, and how to hit. Then I end on a humorous note. He's pumping with adrenaline, blood all over him, and he calls for a ride.
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