I didn’t know for sure if these were going to be continuing over the summer hiatus, but it appears that we’ll continue to have the online novels to give us our weekly Heroes fix.  Joy!

It Takes A Village
Part 1 of 4

Who commands the loyalty of the man known only as “the Haitian”?  Though he partnered for years with Noah Bennet, the man in horn-rimmed glasses, the Haitian turned against him to aid Claire, Bennet’s daughter.  Then, he seemed to betray both to Claire’s grandmother, Angela Petrelli.  Does he take orders from her…or answer ultimately to an even higher power?

This arc covers the backstory of the Haitian.  We begin way back in the episode “Collision”, where Parkman has just been kidnapped.  The Haitian is wiping his memory, and Bennet notes that some of the ones they wipe smile.  In a bit of foreshadowing, he comments that he would be interested to know what it must feel like.  The Haitian tells him what it feels like to take the memories:  “Sometimes it’s like picking flowers just after a spring rain…sometimes, like reaching into the moist soil of freshly dug graves.  Grubs biting at your fingers…”  Nice.  “…Sometimes it’s like dancing…but always, it reminds me of home, and my father.”

With that, we flash back to his village in Haiti.  The land is dying, strangled by the Duvaliers, and people everywhere are starving.  But the people in his village are happy…dancing.  Some believe that it is because of their faith, but he knows that it is because of his father, Guillame, a Houngan, or a priest.  When the Haitian is out with his friends, they are discussing how much they love his father, raving about how he should be the president of Haiti, or even the U.S.  One of the boys says that he has real powers, and that he is special.  Suddenly, a gunshot pierces the air.

The Tonton Macoutes, a gang of thugs under control of Duvalier are back in the village, and are looking for Guillame.  He comes out, ready to stop them with his abilities.  While his power is never clearly defined, it appears that he can impart feelings on others.  This is how he managed to keep his village prosperous.  Now, using this power, he holds off the gang members with feelings of horror.  Everything is going well until the Haitian runs up behind him and yells, “Father!”, distracting him.  One of the men turns and shoots Guillame.  We close with him lying on the ground, looking up at his son and saying “You…what did you do to me?  What did you do?!”

A quick thing to notice about this chapter…around Guillame’s neck he is wearing a pendant which any Heroes fan should recognize.  Also, a little Easter Egg in the Flash version(which I haven’t been including up until now…sorry), features a behind the scenes shot from the filming of the finale.

Check back next week for the next chapter!