iStory

iStory
iStory is a means to experience Heroes via interactive stories on the Heroes NBC website.
First mentioned:	November 8, 2008
link

iStory (or "Interactive Story") is a part of NBC.com's Heroes Evolutions experience that allows players to literally interact and change the story.

Heroes Evolutions

The iStory in an interactive experience where the the users act as players in the story. The chapters are entirely text based with a button to choose an action at the bottom of each scene. Occasionally, there may be video segments to watch and other tasks to perform off the NBC site. If a person chooses the wrong action and dies or gets captured, that person is returned to the beginning of that chapter and can begin again. No registration is required to participate.

Friend or Foe

The first volume of iStory was called "Friend or Foe" and was released during the first half of Season Three of Heroes. In this volume, each user could participate in a mission contract with either Primatech Executive Services or Pinehearst Research Group that was related with stopping the operations of the Kill Squad. Except for the final week, new chapters of Operation Splinter (Primatech contract) and Operation Bad Blood (Pinehearst contract) were released. The volume culminated with the Pinehearst and Primatech contractors working together in the final chapter to stop the Kill Squad from blowing up a dam and killing the inhabitants of a nearby town, along with an innocent teenage girl named Anna.

The Private

The second volume of iStory is related to Rachel Mills. It was announced on December 24, 2008, on NBC's Heroes iStory webpage, as follows:

Rachel Mills survived dangerous tours as a female Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan through guts, quick thinking, and a thick skin. But now, near the end of her enlistment, she finds herself in the middle of a situation unlike any that she has ever faced: a secret war on the Iraq-Iran border. Soon, a new, mysterious opponent puts Rachel and her friends' lives at stake. She is forced to make a choice that could shake the world.

It was released on January 14, 2009, during the hiatus between Volumes Three and Four of Season Three. In this volume, each user plays the role of Rachel Mills in a flashback of her experiences during her last tour in Iraq. The following summary is for the latest chapter of the volume.

Latest Chapter

For summaries of other chapters of the Private, see The Private chapter summaries.

Rachel chooses to investigate weird moaning that is coming from the medical ward so that she can rescue a girl that sounds like she is in distress. On a far table, under a dim construction light, Rachel spots her laying in a tangle of wires and tubes. She appears to be about Rachel's age, light-skinned, but Rachel cannot tell her nationality.

As Rachel gets closer, she can see that her "table" is a tray, half-full of a blue-ish chemical that is being pumped in through a tube like a garden hose. Her arms and legs were swollen, bulging, as if full of liquid. The girl has IVs in both arms with her eyes half-open. Rachel notes that she seems unconscious, and then pauses her story to calm herself from the fresh memories.

The interviewer asks Rachel what happened next, and Rachel says that she tried to free her. He asks again what happened and she continues that the girl attacked her. The interviewer notes that her reaction was not what she expected. Rachel responds that she thinks the girl was just afraid, but whatever the facility was doing to her made her powerful. The interviewer notes that Rachel did survive. Rachel replies that the girl would have killed her, but the men outside came into the ward and the girl turned on them. When that happened, Rachel took the opportunity to run away.

After a moment of silence, the interviewer says that is enough for their needs. Rachel questions why they are stopping, noting she hasn't told him how she escaped.

The interviewer then continues Rachel's story for her, thumbing through his notes. He says Rachel found Jim on the hill, and then they made their way toward the border. However, on the way, they were met by a helicopter hired by Jim's employer.

Rachel questions how the interviewer knows that, noting that information wasn't in the official account. The interviewer replies that it certainly wasn't in the account, as officially they crossed the Iraq-Iran border, attacked an Iranian army convoy and were captured. This caused a stir in the local media, and the U.S. government demoted Rachel to Private, punishing her to hush the situation. Rachel responds that the real story is crazy, but they have to believe her, and the interviewer says that they do. Just then, Jim walks through the door and says hello.

As the memories of what happened in Iran come flooding back to Rachel, she asks Jim if he was working for these guys. Jim replies that he wasn't, and that he just started. Jim continues that he told them their story, and they were very interested.

The interviewer says he will let Jim and Rachel catch up and leaves the office, saying he needs to speak with his superiors. Once he leaves, Rachel asks if he isn't still working for Jeremy Woo, noting that Jim had said Jeremy was pretty persuasive. Jim replies that Jeremy is dead, and explains that some terrorists blew up a dam near where they worked and he was killed. Rachel asks if Al-Quaeda was responsible, but Jim responds that it was a different group and that it wasn't in Iraq.

Rachel then asks if the guys responsible were caught, and Jim replies that his company did catch them while staring far away. Rachel says she gets the feeling that his company didn't arrest them. Jim then smiles, saying that they didn't do anything to them--that they just watched.

Rachel asks if Jim said he worked for a paper company and Jim replies that maybe there was a bit more to it than that, but doesn't add anything more. Rachel then recalls the empty file she found in the facility in Iran. She tells Jim that he doesn't have to tell her anything more about himself or them, but she needs to know about the file she found in the facility that was about her. She says she feels like she might have been singled out, and wants to know if he knows anything. Jim approaches Rachel, and points his finger at her. Speaking in a low voice, he tells her not to ever bring up the file again, and especially not to bring it up in this place. Rachel presses him for what he knows, but Jim refuses to tell her and says it is for her own good that she doesn't know. The interviewer then returns carrying a camera and Jim walks out without even looking back.

The interviewer notes to Rachel that she had an unusual experience in the Middle East that may prove valuable in the days ahead. Rachel responds that his comment is very generous, and that most people just call her a liar. Rachel also asks if she got the job, but the interviewer doesn't respond. After finishing setting up a camera facing a blank wall, he asks Rachel how she explains what she encountered in the facility in Iran. Rachel says she can't explain it. The interviewer says that is good, and asks if that bothers her. Rachel replies that she looks back and all she has is questions. He responds that his organization is going to help her, and says they would like her to join their team.

Rachel congratulates herself on making the team, not realizing how much she needed that. The interviewer then notes that training starts in twenty minutes, surprising her. He adds that she needs to make any desired calls now as she will be unreachable until after her first mission. She asks when that mission will begin, and he says in a number of days. He then directs Rachel to stand in front of the camera and repeat after him.

Rachel thinks now that this is when her new war began.

|- style="font-size:11px; background-color:#ebebff;" | width="auto" style = "background-color:#CCD5F4; text-align: center;" | Evolutions Characters || style=" background-color:#ebebff; text-align: left;" |