California
Claire Bennett was sitting upstairs in her room, on her laptop, searching up about different specials. Her father, Noah, had told her to stay out of it this time, but as always, Claire didn't listen. Noah was off on another 'work trip', and Claire knew it had something to do with specials. So she copied her father's old files onto her laptop, "just in case". It looked like in case had come around. She wanted to help him out again. She knew she'd be an asset to her father's work. After all, she couldn't die. Noah had all sorts of people with abilities in these files, not to mention some of those that she had met, Mr. Doyle, Sylar,heck even Matt Parkman among others. But there was one that captured her interest. A Petty Officer Hayden Lloyd, who worked for the US Navy. He looked like a young man and had short black hair. He was obviously in his uniform in this photo. Claire read her father's file on him. She was right. He was young. Only 27. Joined the Navy when he was 22 and had been part of it ever since. Primatech had had inside eyes on him until the date of 2007. Nothing about any inside eyes past that date. The ability section on his profile read 'oil secretion'. He must have been able to secrete oil at will, which can be pretty dangerous, especially in a job like his. Claire wondered if Hayden knew about his ability. And if he did, had he already done some damage? She minimized the Primatech file and opened up Google, typing in "Petty Officer Hayden Lloyd US Navy". Lots of search results showed up, he'd been given some awards, did good jobs blah, blah, blah, but there were several articles that grabbed Claire's attention. 'Oil spillage in Hangar 1'' on a Navy website. 'Oil spillage on Flight, Contained In Seconds'. She clicked on each news story and read them. They had the signs of Hayden knowing about his power, but the way several of these articles were going, it looked as if he was just discovering it, and was going off the rails. Claire knew she could help this man. She just needed to know how she could get to him. So she checked the Navy website and searched up his name. And found exactly what she was looking for. 'Top Petty Officer Hayden Lloyd Set To Lead Flight To Afghanistan'. The article read that Hayden was picked out of hundreds of Petty Officers to lead, and pilot, a flight to Afghanistan. It also read that the plane would depart from the Navy Yard in Washington. Claire was worried at this, because if Hayden's power was set off on that flight, it would become a disaster. She had to go to Washington and find a way to get on that flight. Claire shut her laptop and headed downstairs, heading for the door, but she was stopped by her mother, Sandra.
"Claire?" She asked, "Where are you going?"
"Washington" Claire replied as she began opening the door.
"What for?" Sandra asked her daughter curiously.
"A History assignment about it," Claire lied, "I thought it would be better if I go there, because then I get to experience the lesson firsthand. Some of the girls are going, so I won't be alone. Don't worry, I'll be fine"
With that, Claire was out the door. Sandra eyed the closed door for a moment and picked up the phone, ringing some of Claire's friends mothers. Who knew nothing about meeting Claire in Washington, let alone a History assignment about it. Sandra dialled Noah's number as she headed upstairs and into Claire's room.
"Sandra?" Noah answered, "What is it?"
"I'm worried about Claire" Sandra said as she looked around her daughter's bedroom.
"Why?" Noah asked.
"She's gone to Washington" Sandra replied.
"Washington? What for?" Noah queried.
"A History assignment, apparently," Sandra answered, noticing Claire's laptop, sitting on the bed and beginning to open it, "But none of the girls' mothers know a thing about Washington or a History assignment...Noah, we have a problem"
She was staring at the screen of Claire's laptop.
"What is it, Sandra?" Noah asked.
"She's been Googling things about a Petty Officer Hayden Lloyd," Sandra said as she read, "The article she had open says he is scheduled to lead a plane trip to Afghanistan from Washington soon"
Noah paused for a moment, then said, "This isn't good"
"Why?"Sandra asked, "Is this Petty Officer dangerous?"
"He's a special, but I don't think he's discovered his ability yet," Noah explained, "Don't worry, I'll finish up here then head straight to Washington to sort Claire out"
And with that, Noah hung up. Sandra placed the phone down on Claire's bed and just stared at it.
Cardiff
At Torchwood Three, Gwen Cooper was sitting on the computer, scanning for weird anomalies around the globe. The current Prime Minister of Britain had heard of them and asked them to do a through search of not just Cardiff or all of Britain but the world. Ianto Jones was standing behind her, staring at the screen.
"This is our biggest job yet, I don't even know how the Prime Minister heard of us" He stated.
"Someone must have put in a good word" Captain Jack Harkness stated as he entered the room, coffee in hand.
Of course, Jack knew full well who would have put in a good word for them, but he didn't expect it to be as big of a job as it was himself, either.
"Anything? Anywhere?" Jack asked as he approached Gwen and Ianto.
"Nothing," Gwen answered, "Not even anything from the Rift"
"Wait, what's that?" Ianto asked, pointing to an icon on the map on the screen that was somewhere in America.
Gwen zoomed into the country and clicked on the icon. Several articles came up.
'Mysterious oil spills around Navy', Oil spills rise in Navy area'.
"Oh, it's just oil spills" Ianto stated, dryly.
"Wait, wait, wait, not so fast," Jack said as Gwen was about to close the window, "Read the articles. Are there any consistencies?"
The three read the articles in silence. When they were done, Gwen was the first to speak up.
"There is," She said, " In every article, there is a mention that a Petty Officer Hayden Lloyd was around in every instance"
"And what does that tell us?" Jack asked his team.
"That Petty Officer Lloyd has some bad luck?" Ianto asked stupidly.
"You need to listen more during our makeout sessions, boy" Jack flirted with Ianto, raising an eyebrow.
"Please," Gwen said, "Keep it for the bedroom. It tells us that this man is definitely suspicious. If he even is a man"
"Good work, Gwen," Jack praised her,then turning to Ianto, "And she doesn't even make out with me"
He turned back to Gwen, "What's the latest news on this guy?"
Gwen did some digging and began reading, stating, "He's set to lead a flight to Afghanistan from Washington in just a few weeks. That's not a good sign, is it?"
"Definitely not," Jack stated, "I need to see this guy. Or whatever he is. Looks like I'm going to Wshington"
With that, he threw his empty coffee cup into the trash and began heading out.
"What about us?" Gwen asked, as she spun around on her chair.
"Hey," Jack said as he spun around, "At best, he's just a guy with a fascination with oil. Worst case, he's an alien who protrudes oil"
"What if he is worst case?" Ianto asked, "Won't you need back up?"
"If he is, I can handle him," Jack stated, "I've dealt with worse things"
And with that, Jack was out the door.
Washington
In the Navy Yard, there was a long plane all set and ready to go. Two Petty Officers were walking toward it. One of them were Petty Officer Hayden Lloyd. The other; Petty Officer Jordan Slopes, Lloyd's first mate, and best friend.
"You must be over the moon" Slopes was saying.
"I guess" Lloyd replied.
"What do you mean,'you guess'?" Slopes asked, "You were handpicked out of 60 marines to lead this flight into Afghanistan. They announced it two weeks ago, and you haven't even jumped for joy once"
"Yeah, well, I'm not the jumping for joy type, Jordan" Lloyd stated.
"What's wrong with you, Hayden? You haven't been yourself for quite a few weeks, even before this whole Afghanistan thing was announced," Slopes said, "Something up?"
"I'm fine, Slopes" Lloyd said bluntly.
Truth is, he wasn't. Something strange had been happening to him lately. Every time he got angry, his hands would turn all oily and when he pointed them in a certain direction, the oil would pollute itself in that direction. And he didn't know what was wrong with him. But he couldn't very well tell Jordan something like that. That's crazy talk to him. The two made it to the plane and began walking up the stairs.
"You sure?" Slopes asked once again.
"Let's just focus on getting to Afghanistan, after all, you're my co-pilot" Lloyd told him as they both took their respective seats in the cockpit.
Lloyd reached for the mic, and spoke into it, "Attention, crew members, we're all set for take off, please make sure you are comfortably seated and we will discuss our mission when we get closer to landing in Afghanistan, Lloyd out"
Slopes gave Lloyd a "really?" look.
"I always wanted to say that" Lloyd smiled.
With that, the plane took off for Afghanistan. Lloyd and Slopes were quiet for most of the flight, and halfway through, something unexpected to the both of them happened. There were knocks on each entrance of the cockpit. Lloyd and Slopes looked to each other. The two knocks persisted. A Petty Officer couldn't have needed to tlk to one of them now? Especially this long during the flight? After, a third knock from both sides, the two doors opened. Lloyd turned around to look in that direction, keeping his hands on the controls. What he saw completely and utterly confused him to no end. On the entrance to the right was a man in a long navy blue trenchcoat, and on the entrance on the left was a blonde teenage girl.
"Hayden!" The man and girl said in unison when they spotted him.
The two looked at each other as Lloyd got anxious. He had no idea how these two people got on the plane and how the hell they knew who he was. He was getting very terrified as he noticed that the man had a gun attached to his waist. But then allof a sudden, he felt his hands get oily.
"Uh, Hayden..." Slopes said, staring at Lloyd's hands on the controls.
Lloyd turned around to notice his hands were sprouting oil once again. He hated that they were doing this at this time. It made him so angry, which only made it worse as the oil sunk into the controls, sending them on the fritz. All focus was on Lloyd and his hands-turned-oil at this moment.
"I can't control it!" Slopes yelled, grabbing for the mic, "We're going down!"
Lloyd couldn't believe this. His first plane trip to Afghanistan and they were crashing. Not only that, he was taking several Petty Officers, and two strangers, with him.