[Introduction: Donald Essex and Perrin Crocker both ride a prison bus down a Tennessee Highway. Donald as a guard, Perrin as a prisoner.
When antagonized by a fellow prisoner, Perrin's ability activates on instinct, sending bone spikes in every direction. The spikes kill many of the passengers, including the driver, and cause the bus to crash. Miraculously, the only survivor is Donald.
Donald wakes in a hospital, having sustained no injuries. Nathan and agents from the government arrive with questions for Donald...
[Caption: Memphis, Tennessee]
Nathan: Pretty incredible, huh? Like you surviving that bus crash without a scratch on you.
Donald: Like I told everyone else, I don't know what happened.
Nathan: I do. Someone on that bus had special abilities. He got everyone killed, except you. And that's why I'm here. I'm starting up a government task force, to prevent things exactly like this from happening. I need people like you with backgrounds in law enforcement, who know about the ones with abilities, and who can handle themselves in hostile situations like this.
Donald: I'm sorry, but I'm not interested.
Nathan: Just take the night to sleep on it and I'll come for your answer in the morning.
Donald Narrating: I have to get out of town, (leaves the hospital, walks down Beale Street, enters a downstairs apartment), before Nathan Petrelli realizes the mistake he's made.
Donald: What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Donald?
Donald Narrating: (packing a suitcase) Mixed up in something you've been trying to avoid most of your life.
Donald: And on top of it, now you're talking to yourself.
Donald Narrating: Just cause you had the wrong job on the wrong bus with the wrong convict. And instead of letting yourself get gutted by procupine boy, you used your powers. The powers you've been hiding from the world all these years. (He sees a vision of a spike going through his chest as he turns that area into water to remain unharmed.)
Donald Narrating: I could have done a lot of great things with these hands, (making a small water geyser with his finger), these powers, but hunting down innocent people? That's not one of them. I wonder how Petrelli would have taken it if I'd told him...
Donald: ...Sorry Senator, I can't help you hunt down people with powers, cause I'm one of them.
Donald Narrating: Looks like I won't have to. (Two of Nathan's body guards break in the door, guns drawn)
Body Guard #1: Get down on the ground, Mr. Essex. Now!
Donald: What the hell are you doing?
Body Guard #2: Lab results found your DNA in the saltwater at the crash site. We know what you are.
Donald: I'll show you what I am.
Donald Narrating: (His arm turns into a spray of water, disarming their guns) They won't let me walk from this, not after what the've told me. So I hit them with everything. I'm not messing around with these people and I want to get out of here quickly. Even though I don't think they have anything that can stop me. (A balding man with glasses is shown entering the door, and spray something in Donald's face.) Whatever he hits me with, it &#$@&# hurts. I go down. Hard. Everything goes black. (His body fully converts to water) And the last thing I feel is this strange...sense...of separation. (Water is seen dripping down the stairs, and later out a pipe into the Mississippi River.)
Nathan: What the hell happened?
Balding Agent: Took him out with the gas. Like we were suppose to do if he resisted.
Nathan: Is he dead?
Balding Agent: Hard to tell. No way of bringing him in otherwise though.
Nathan: This is exactly what I was hoping to avoid. Let's wrap it up and get back to New York. There's a lot more to do before we officially get started.
Balding Agent: And all this water?
Nathan: Leave it. Donald Essex is the Mississippi's problem now.