Participants:
| Scene Title | Anywhere But Here |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Hiro Nakamura tries to protect Molly Walker from Arthur, while at the same time protecting his father from Molly. |
| Date | November 18, 2014 |
Music pumps and slams in heavy beats through a well-furnished apartment. The windows rattle from the bass, a microwave in the kitchen pop-pops with popcorn, the rhythm of which is lost over the roaring noise of the sugary beat.
They call me 'quiet girl'
Bobbing brown locks belonging to Molly Walker bounce and swish with the beat. Socked feet skip-hop across the floor, eyes closed and stolen with the rhythm of the song. She snaps her fingers, sound unheard from the level of the volume. Matt and Kay would never let her listen to music this loud if they were home. But she’s older now, has more freedom, she can stay home by herself.
But I'm a riot Mary, Jo, Lisa
Dancing her way over to the kitchen, Molly spins on one heel, kicks out a hip, and snaps both fingers in the air. One leg kicks back, swings forward, and she pivots on a toe. Shuffling footsteps bring her closer to the microwave, and with a pop of the heel of her hand she knocks the door open, snatching the microwave popcorn bag out with two fingers.
Always the same
Ow, ow, ow, hot Molly mouths as she juggles the bag from one hand to the next, then tugs at the corners and opens it. Popcorn for lunch isn't entirely unreasonable, she presumes. Popcorn is a vegetable and she's an adult and can do what she wants. Which includes eating straight out of the bag. Horses do that—eat straight out of a bag—and horses aren't bad, right?
That's not my na—
The music turns off, sharply. When Molly's eyes open there's a darkly-dressed figure standing in the middle of her living room. Black hair is swept back behind his head into a ponytail, lips downturned into a frown. Hiro Nakamura furrows his brows and makes steady eye contact with the young woman, frozen in a moment of time with him.
"Molly," Hiro says with dour intonation. "You need to come with me if you want to live."
“Uh.. Mister Hiro what the fuck are you doing here?!” The young adult hisses at the man while she intentionally takes a step back, the popcorn bag falls to the ground and kernels spill out, foot crushing a few with audible crackle.
Mister Hiro and his father were dangerous according to Arthur and everyone else at Pinehearst but Molly knew him before all of this. He was a hero. Maybe that's a fact she never really wanted to think about. How could anyone say Mister Hiro wasn't a good man? Any other day she could have tailspun into a whole look in the mirror but with the time traveler in front of her proclaiming her life was on the life, she quickly snuffs those thoughts out for the gloom that was survival.
“Who?” The why.. well she was a human GPS tracking system. She's already turning to grab her phone and jacket laying on the couch.
“Not important,” Hiro says, moving his hand away from the hilt of the sword at his shoulder. He walks over to Molly’s side, brows furrowed, noticing that she’s grabbing her jacket and phone. Slowly, Hiro shakes his head. “You won’t need that,” he indicates, “we can’t have anyone tracking you.” Then, because he’s certain that she doesn’t understand what he means, he closes his eyes and takes a slow and centering breath.
“You won’t be coming back.” Hiro slowly opens his eyes. “Write a note, say goodbye, this is the last time you’ll be here. I’m….” Hiro looks away, pensive. “I’m sorry.”
It was, to Molly at least but. Well sometimes you didn't get to know who. Her frown evident on her face before she's tossing her phone and jacket to the couch. Walking over to the kitchen she writes a note: Don't be mad. I love you. Her hand shakes at the end of the sentence and Molly looks down at the pad of paper before staring across the kitchen at the dishes in the rack, mugs on the counter.
“Mis- Hiro.” Before she jots down additional thoughts on the piece of paper. Someone came. I'm safe. “Who?” the clairvoyant walks up to Hiro with resentment in her face. She had to leave? Hadn't she had to run enough? maybe this was the difference with Hiro and Arthur, she never had to run when with Arthur.
“Where?” That question is a plea almost, her head turns to look again at the kitchen and the note written on the counter. It's not an explanation. But Molly didn't know what to say.
“Something terrible happened,” Hiro says with a tone of remorse in his voice, “people were hurt, and Arthur is going to use you to find and hurt people who are innocent. Or he’ll take your ability from you.” Hiro Nakamura, the man that Arthur Petrelli has been trying to find for years, along with his father. The man Molly has been trying to find for him for years. Right here.
Hiro holds out a hand. “I'm taking you to a friend, far away from here. I… don't know for how long. Maybe a few months, maybe longer.” There's a disheartened look in Hiro’s eyes when he says that, curling his fingers up and beckoning her over.
Hiro the terrorist. Hiro the vigilante. Hiro the fugitive.
“No Arthur would never…” she trails off backing up a step a shaky hand rising to her lips before she steels herself. Huruma’s words and teachings echoing through her that powers her resolve. “Something terrible happened?” When he goes on about where she's going the clairvoyant rears back. But things were good here, great. Besides Gabriel. A thought flickers through her mind, “Help me kill Sylar.” Before he can protest she's coming forward and grabbing his hand.
“Not now but soon.” Soon, that's what she's leaving behind also. Her vendetta. “I can wait but,” she won't forever Molly knows that much. A look of guilt on her face for thinking of him before her fathers, her sisters.. her mother. Sylar and his family had begun to consume her.
“Let's go.” She couldn't know if she could totally trust him but the Hiro she knew when she was a child. He wouldn't hurt her. But she had thought the same of Arthur.. where was she wrong? A ting of regret unfurls as she inhales deeply and exhales in a long release of air.
Hiro’s brows furrow, watching Molly in the way someone might an injured animal, a mixture of pity and helplessness. “This… wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared,” he admits as he puts a hand on her small shoulder, offering one last look to the apartment. “The rest of your family will be safe, but for your own good…”
Hiro and Molly disappear like a frame cut out of a film reel.
Elsewhere, snow whips across a flat plain, spread out at the base of a rocky, ice-crusted mountain range. The unyielding November sun burns cold and small overhead, and a polar wind blows strong across the flat sheets of infinite white. A sole structure, with beige colored walls and a roof covered with solar reflectors, stands as bastion against the below zero temperatures. The facility seems abandoned, with snow drifts coming up one wall and spreading partway onto the roof.
Inside, the facility is still warm and electricity running, heat maintained. The tile-floored lobby suddenly surges with air, as Molly Walker and Hiro Nakamura appear out of thin-air. As Hiro lifts his hand from her shoulder, he turns to look out the expansive windows overlooking the desolate, frozen terrain. Nearby, a blonde woman in a black sweater stands with two mugs of cocoa, one in each hand.
“…I have to hide you somewhere they’d never think to look.” Hiro says, looking over to the blonde woman and offering her a firm nod.
She looks to Molly, managing a practiced smile she’s prepared for this day specifically. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Molly. My name is Aria,” she starts to approach one of the cocoa offered out.
“Welcome to Antarctica.”