SPOILER ALERT
This is going to be a primarily Star Trek fanfic series known as A Singular Destiny (named after the TNG relaunch novel) and is filled with elements of many tv, movies, books, and games all thrown in for fun and interesting settings and interactions, so please forgive me if it seems as though Star Trek is not in the immediate chapters - it won't be (I mean, c'mon they are in the Mid 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th centuries and we are starting from 2008/2010, for gosh sakes
)
Kudos for anyone who can pick out the Easter Eggs (there will be egg salad in this series, so have fun and the blue ones will be really tasty)
So here comes the Prologue of Stargate: New Frontiers, Part 1 in the Star Trek: A Singular Destiny Series.
Jack Harkness had just finished up with Alonso, and was on his way back to drowning his sorrows, when a call came in. This number was restricted to a very select few. The person on the other end of the line was one of only a handful of people even aware of his existence. Jack picked it up immediately.
“Why Miss Shaw, I do declare, it is nice to hear from you again.”
“Why Thank You, Captain Harkness. I take it from GPS, that you are not in the neighborhood?”
“You are correct, madam. However, I am presently unengaged for the moment. What can I do for you?”
“Meet with me in one hour, and we will talk. Use my present GPS address.”
“My dear, you must have an amazing faith in my capability of getting from the planet Zog to Earth in that time.”
“Jack, you and I both know that you now have a functioning Vortex Manipulator. I’ll see you in one hour.”
And so it was that Captain Jack Harkness made his way back to planet Earth, albeit in a sorry state. His efforts to drown himself would have to wait for another time.
In Manhattan, at the Petrelli Residence, Miss Shaw, aka, Mrs. Angela Petrelli was busy waiting for Jack. She knew he could do something. The idea that Claire could be so impetuous and be such a reckless individual was nothing new to Angela. She herself was that way at times. However, she had no intention of letting this dream come to pass. She needed Jack to listen and to act accordingly. She had at most four hours before Claire did the unthinkable. Since the others would be occupied, she was going to have to work from outside the family.
Jack teleported to the Petrelli Residence and looked at the Brownstone with awe. He had not been to New York since his incident in the 1920’s. He had expected never to return, but today was a special day. Angela, his beloved, was calling on him. He owed her big time, and in a way, he had hoped that this was a way to make up for Ianto. Even though nothing could ever make up for Ianto, in his opinion, this could help him sort it out a bit.
He rang the doorbell and she came. She looked more mature, but in her eyes he could see the young woman she had been before that man had taken it from her. The woman she was destined to be, the one in whom he knew could see the future and would work for change in the present.
“Captain Jack Harkness, it is good to see you.”
“Miss Shaw. Or should I say Mrs. Petrelli?”
“Don’t you dare, you know what kind of a man he was.”
“I do now. I didn’t then. But he was always secretive.”
“Indeed. Please come in, sit down. Rest yourself. You have had a hard month I take it?”
“Yes, Ianto was my love. I wish that I could have saved him, both times. But he was a trooper. He went into Hell and back to save all of us, and to seal the rift. I know he knows how much he meant to me, and I know how much I meant to him. I just came back from Zog, having met a nice young man named Alonso Frame. The Doctor introduced us. Do you have any word about him?”
“Once Torchwood One was destroyed, you know that Torchwood Four went underground. We renamed ourselves the Company. To our employees, we have always been the Company. We have some interesting findings about Specials, like you Captain. If you want to, we can work together on that. However, there is something you need to know about. You know about my granddaughter Claire Bennet?”
“Advanced Healing and Regeneration. She was brought up by Noah and Sandra Bennet. Her adoptive brother is Lyle Bennet. She was raised in Odessa Texas. Attended Union Wells High School, where on Homecoming Night 2006 she had the misfortune to meet and survive an encounter with Gabriel Gray, aka, Sylar.”
“Well done, Captain. You know about Noah and Peter, my son?”
“I know their backgrounds.”
“Well Claire is about to jump from a Ferris wheel in Central Park in about two hours and expose Specials to the world. My dream was explicit in that detail. I need you to make it look like a fake. Make her look like a stunt artist. She could use the pay. I will set up interviewers to be there, but you need to make it look convincing. Can you do that for me, Jack?”
“With a functioning Vortex Manipulator and two hours, of course I can.”
Within a few minutes, Jack was in Central Park near the Ferris wheel. He jumped back to yesterday, dug around the base of the wheel and placed cushions underneath the exact location that Claire would land. Then he replaced the topsoil and sod to make it look convincingly that she had jumped crash landed and then got up doing her thing of replacing dislocated joints and broken bones.
In his statement to the press, he would claim that Claire was a contortionist extraordinaire who could displace her entire extremities – legs, feet, arms, hands, fingers and toes, jump from high distances with cushions beneath and not feel a thing, since she knew how to jump and land safely without pain, and then in her finale would pop her joints back into place engrossing the populace, as her stunt required.
He knew she would hate him for a long time, so he had to head that off as well. So, he decided to look up her friends she cared about – Zachary Edwards, West Rosen, Alexander Woolsey, and Gretchen Berg – and invite them to play along.
Odessa Texas, March 2008
Zach Edwards was finally out of school. Hooray for small miracles. He was just getting ready to mail his application in for the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, when someone knocked on his door.
A handsome man in his late thirties was standing on the other side of the screen door. He was dressed in a vintage World War 2 overcoat, and from what Zach could see he wore a blue shirt with suspenders and military blue pants.
“Can I help you?”
“Hi, I’m Captain Jack Harkness. I am trying to help Claire Bennet. I know you two were friends back in junior year, so could you help me?”
“You’re trying to help Claire?”
“Yes, at the behest of her Grandmother, Angela Petrelli. You see, Claire is about to rat out Specials. I know you know what I’m talking about. You were there when she jumped from a Gravel Rig. I know about that from her dad – Noah Bennett. Now I am trying to stop her from doing the same thing, only this time off a Ferris wheel in Central Park in front of reporters and millions of viewers. I have the footage of that if you like. I am trying to make it so that she becomes the most interesting stunt woman in history, instead of the woman who puts Specials on the Governments of the World’s Most Watched and Wanted Lists. Would you help me?”
“Who are you?”
“I am a Special, just like Claire. In fact, her grandmother and I were together in 1971, but that’s neither here nor there. Just so you know, I can do what she can do – want me to prove it?”
“No, just tell me what to do.”
Sun Valley California, April 2008
Jack Harkness appeared at West Rosen’s new apartment, in Las Vegas. He knew the young man was paranoid, but this was ridiculous. He scanned the door, and found trip wires, a homemade stunner attached to the doorknob, and even an alarm on the windows. He needed to be careful. This man could fly, like Nathan Petrelli used to. West was a good kid, but easily spooked.
West was listening to his latest CD of Avril Lavigne, when someone knocked at his door. He looked through the peephole, and there was a man in a trench-coat, flashing a badge. To be blunt, West panicked. He remembered being taken when he was five; he remembered his uncle helped him escape the Man with the Horn-Rimmed Glasses. He knew his uncle had helped the doctors at first, but he needed to know if this man worked for Uncle Lee or not, so he dialed him up.
“West, I am Captain Jack Harkness, I work for Claire’s Grandmother, Angela Petrelli. We are trying to stop her from exposing Specials; your uncle, Doctor Lee Rosen calls them Alphas.”
West opens the door. “My Uncle is on the line.”
He takes out his cell phone and presses it on. “Doctor Rosen. Captain Jack Harkness, do you remember me?”
“Yes, yes of course I do. It’s been a long time. What seems to be the problem?”
“A girl named Claire Bennet is about to expose Alphas to the world.”
“How did you do that,” West demanded.
Jack ignored him.
“What, that could lead to horrible things happening, like in Nazi Germany. We both know about that, Jack. West may be too young to remember the experiments done on him by Torchwood, or the Company, but he does remember Noah Bennet. ”
“Then you know that exposing Alphas is a BAD thing in this time and place, correct?”
“I agree with you completely. Is West still on?”
“I’m here, Uncle Lee.”
“West, this man is a good man. I helped him locate a Doctor friend of his in the late nineties. Listen to me, please. If he can help you stop this Claire girl from exposing you, than by all means, help him. I will do what I can to assist him.”
“Claire wants to expose us,” he asks Jack with a questioning look.
“Yes, tonight. In Central Park in front of millions. Now I have a friend of Claire’s in a van – Zachary Edwards – but it’s sort of a long story. You see, the van’s in a parking garage in New York, in 2010.
On the day Claire exposes us.”
“Us, you mean…”
“Yes, I’m Special too.”
“Uncle Lee, can you be there, we may need some help.”
“Tell me the date and time, and I will be there to help.”
February 2010
San Francisco, California was nice this time of year, thought Richard Woolsey. It was much nicer than stuffy old Washington. He remembered how Atlantis crashed just beyond the Bay Bridge, and standing on the Observation Deck with the Atlantis Command Crew when all was safe again a year ago. Now, he was at his sister’s home with her son, Alex. He was playing a computer game made by the SGC to filter out potential candidates to travel through the Stargate to the destination of the ninth chevron. He was quite good in fact. Alex had always had a talent for electronic games.
Since the Destiny had already been located, the game was simply figuring out who could help out at Atlantis, the Antarctic Outpost, Stargate Command, or even the newly rebuilt Midway Station. Not one to toot his own horn, but it was gratifying that one of his own relatives could be as smart as was needed to become a member of Stargate Command. He was just about to call General O’Neill and Colonel Carter about Alex, when a knock came at the door.
“Uncle Rick, could you get it?”
No one, normally, except Alex, ever called Richard Woolsey Rick, not even the other members of his family. Richard thought it was cool to be called that by someone who looked up to him, so he said yes.
He opened the door to see who it was, and there stood a spectre from his past. It was 1975 and he was in Grad School, when this man who was very noticeable to the other students, as they were trying to get his attention (males and females), and he just looked at Richard. For a full ten minutes before walking over and introducing himself.
“Jack Harkness and you are?”
“Uhmm. Richard Woolsey.”
“Well Rick, may I call you Rick?” He nods.
“Rick, can we go to your place? I just feel connected to you. I can’t explain it. I just do.”
It was one time, and never again. The man was gone and never seen again before today.
“Hello, Rick, mind if I come in?”
“You! You never changed. How do you look like that, after nearly 35 years?”
“Thanks. I get that a lot. But I’m here to see Alex.”
“Oh, no! No you don’t! You’re not going to do to him what you did to me. No way in Hell!”
“Richard, this is between me and Alex…”
At this, Alex came to the door and saw the man in the trench-coat. Remembering what Claire said long ago about the Company, and the Government, naturally he ran.
“Great, just great!”
As they run, Jack gets an idea to use the Vortex Manipulator as a teleport and beams directly in front of Alex as he was looking behind him. Alex runs full force into Jack, and falls down.
“How did you do that?”
“Not important, what is important is that a friend of yours is about to expose us. Claire Bennet? She’s about to make us public.”
“Why would she do that? She tried to save me and my family. We only just got our lives back, thanks to my Uncle Rick.”
“Yeah, well she must have a reason; maybe she’s tired of all the running, hiding and the danger. But you and I both know that if she exposes us, she will bring it all down on us even worse.”
“When you say us, you mean?”
“Us. Now I do have a plan. It’s in motion, but it will work. I need for you and a couple of her friends to wait until the right moment. This will provide some amazing job opportunities in the future for all of you, but you must be ready to confront her or she’ll bail and expose us even worse.”
“Okay what do I do?”
“We go back to your place and let’s fill in your Uncle, at least about helping Claire, no need to expose us to him.”
“Okay.”
February 2010
Gretchen Berg was in a pickle. She was now a junior in college and decided that she wanted to work in fashion design. She didn’t have the resources that many did. In fact, she was quite poor. But she did have talent. The fact was that Claire Bennet was out there wearing her fashions was cool enough. She knew all about Union Wells and her death drop from the second story about three months prior. Her friend was Special and she wanted to be in her life. She loved her very much, but wasn’t sure that Claire truly felt the same way. They did kiss once, but she did tell her that while she cared about Gretchen, she did not love Gretchen like that.
A knock on the door brought her out of her reverie. The man was handsome in an underwear model sort of way. Hmm. Maybe…nahh. Oh well, she thought, and opened the door.
Jack Harkness stood looking into the face of Gretchen Berg. His gaydar went bonkers at this one. She had all the telltale signs. Broody, cute but not pretentious about it, very subtle and even a bit bossy. He liked her immediately.
“Gretchen Berg? Tonight you get to make history or break it. Your friend is going to make a plunge which could be the death of all those who are Special. I know that you understand me.”
She knew exactly what he was talking about. But if Claire was going to jump and expose them all, she would be killing everyone close to her. She needed to help stop her.
“What do I do?”
“So Zach, you’re like from 2008? I’m from 2008, and Alex is from 2010. This Gretchen is from 2010 as well. This is so surreal,” states West.”
“Tell me about it,” says Zach. “When I first met Claire, back in Kindergarten we got along great, up until freshmen year at Union Wells. Then she joined the Cheer leading Squad. She started hanging out with Jackie Wilcox, until she stood up to the bitch and got elected for Class President.”
“Wait a sec, you mean to tell me that she was a cheerleader? Aww, man. She was a great comic’s salesperson. She knew all of them. Weird,” says Alex.
“Comics? She sold comics? Get out of town. Really? She was an amazing cheerleader at our school. Put this bitch Debbie Marshall in her place – with me of course. Caused a bit of a scandal really,” says West.
Just then, Jack returned with Gretchen Berg in tow.
“All right, here’s the game-plan, okay? In about 45 minutes, Claire is going to make her jump. When she does, Zach, got the extra footage?”
“Yep.”
“Good. Gretchen, got those fashion designs?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Alex? Got the media covered?”
“Yes.”
“Okay West, I need you to be there to grab her hand and bow, when she restores her joints that is.”
“Will do, Captain.”
“All right then Alex, call your Uncle. We need him on Central Park West and 66th Street Transverse Road. You got that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Okay then, let’s roll.”
Claire was at the top of the Ferris wheel looking down at all the unsuspecting people. For an instant she thought about not jumping, but then the feeling went away. She took the plunge with everyone watching her. She hit the ground and – weird, it was cushiony, soft even. As she got to her feet, she relocated her joints and said “My name is Claire Bennet, and this is attempt number…I guess I kinda lost count,” then someone grabbed her hand making her bow. She looked up and saw West. ‘What the hell was going on here?’
“Ladies and Gentlemen can I have your attention, please. That was stunt-woman Claire Bennet, everybody. Isn’t she amazing, folks? She’s a contortionist extraordinaire, who can dislocate her joints, jump from any height up to ten stories land on a cushion and not feel a thing. Give her a round of applause, everyone!”
‘Who is that man? And why is West here seeming to go along with him?’
“Sorry, Claire, we just couldn’t let you expose us yet. Too many of us are just getting their lives back in order – I’m one of them. You must understand that, right?”
“I hate you, all of you!”
“You’ll understand, later. Anyways, your Grandmother says hi. She needs you now more than ever, if we are to rescue your father.”
“Dad,” thinking immediately about Noah Bennet.
“Yes, Nathan Petrelli.”
Then it dawns on her. West was there. Nathan died to save her, Peter almost died the same day, facing Sylar. Peter forced Sylar to become Nathan, and then Nathan’s essence disappeared from Sylar. Peter told her about that just the other day, the entire truth. Now, she had a chance to help restore Nathan to life. She decided she would, but who was the man that was in the overcoat talking to the press? He must have been working with Angela to make all this come to pass.
Wait a minute, what is Zach doing here. He’s showing the footage of her trying to die! This is not happening. Oh! This isn’t good. Wait again. But the people are loving it. Over there’s Gretchen and… Alex? Oh this is low, even for Angela.
Choosing the only people in the last four years, that she ever got acquainted with and close to, and using them in this lie about her to hide the truth. While Gretchen was speaking about the fashions Claire was wearing and showing many more to the reporters, Alex was showing them some pyrotechnics and blue-screen and green-screen technologies that he developed, and the interviewers were eating it up. Her friends all wanted to cover this up so badly that they would protect her and help her without a thought. Now that man was talking again.
“So please understand that this young lady and her business associates were brought here tonight by the Sullivan Brother’s Carnival to show the world what wonders can be achieved through cooperation and the amazing talents of these people. But Samuel Sullivan had been cheating these wonderful people out of their time, talents and their money. Grifting locals the world over and taking advantage of everyone here for years. In cold blood, so that he could continue, he murdered his own brother, Joseph, who was going to help them be free. But with your help, these awesomely talented people can start anew in the mainstream and bring in the people who love to see them. Thank you for your support.”
Peter had seen the whole display with Noah, and Hiro, and Gabriel Gray. What he saw made him think that something was up. As the crowd dispersed, he went up to the man.
“Hi, Peter. It’s been a long time. And before you ask, yes, I work for your mother. She called me in to make sure that people walked away from this in freedom, not in chains.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood Three, Cardiff, UK.”
Noah had walked up on the two, and nodded at Jack.
“Hello Jack, it’s been a long time. How is Wales?”
“Not good, I just got myself blown up a few times over there, and am on a break. Torchwood Three is underground since they gave us the Blank Page.”
“Oh dear. I heard about that, and I heard about Tosh, Owen and Ianto. I’m sorry, but while you’re here, welcome to America.”
“I’ve been here before, Noah. I came here as a favor to Angela. You know that in the ‘70’s before she met Arthur Petrelli, Angela and I were very close. On the verge of getting married, but then Arthur came in and swept her off her feet.”
“I take it you’ll be around for a while?”
“Just for a bit, but I am not officially alive at the moment.”
“Well, Claire has no clue who you are, and what just happened. I’m sure that she’s working it out that Angela was at the heart of it.”
“She is smart, I learned that much from her taste in friends, but we have to get everyone out of here safely. Remember West Rosen?”
“Of course, the boy who could fly.”
“Remember Lee Rosen?”
“The doctor? Yes I do. What of him?”
“He’s got my van out on 66 Transverse. Not too far from here. I had him paint it to advertise the stunt crew’s contact info. Let’s get the main performers out of the park and to that point. Then let’s meet at that diner in Coyote Sands in two days. I’ll explain it all there.”
“How long have you planned all of this,” asks Peter?
“My time or yours?”
Peter knew immediately what he meant. “Both.”
“Well from my temporal perspective, 2 hours. From yours, two years.”
Epilogue Coyote Sands, Arizona
The Coyote Sands Diner rarely had this many people at any time of year. The Petrelli Family (excluding Nathan, Heidi, and the kids), the Nakamura-Masahashi Family (including Kimiko), the Bennet Family (reunited – including Zach, and Gretchen), the Rosen Family, the Woolsey Family, and Jack Harkness, Gabriel Gray and Tracy Strauss all sat in the diner ordering enough food to feed an army.
Jack had rented out the entire establishment the day of Claire’s jump and had been here enough times in the past to know that these people never told anyone anything. So he began talking to everyone.
“My name is Captain Jack Harkness. I was born another name, on planet 2 galaxies over from here in the year 5067. I lost my brother and the entire colony in 5078 to an invasion of alien creatures. They tortured my brother for years until he escaped them. When I was 17, I was inducted into the Time Agency – the Face of Boe they called me, due to my living in the community on the Boeshane Peninsula on Arraticus III. I served in the Time Agency for many years until I was face down in London 1941, having lost two years of my life. There I enlisted as an American Volunteer in the War Effort as a Pilot, assuming the name of Captain Jack Harkness. That has been my name for over two thousand years.
I decided to become a con artist in revenge against the Time Agency, and on my first con I ran into a young woman from 2005. She was the companion of a man titled The Doctor. He was a Time-Lord. His race is legendary among the star-faring races and he himself was a rogue one at times. Time-Lords and Time-Ladies have the unique ability to deny death. They regenerate completely into a new person with the same memories and experiences, but a new life. They generally get 13 lives in which to do this.
I met The Doctor in his Ninth Incarnation. We saved humanity that day from a capsule which unleashed medical nanobots called nanogenes. They were from a race called the Chula and would rebuild dead or injured Chula warriors on the battlefield into fighting condition. Unfortunately, I and my revenge nearly broke time by allowing the medical capsule to fall on London in the Blitz. The nanogenes found a boy who had been killed by a bomb and reconstructed him according to their programming never having met a human before. Anyone touched by the child would turn into a gas-masked face zombie.
The Doctor solved the issue, and a German bomb got rid of my Chula Warship. I traveled with the Doctor for some time and we ended up in the year 200,100. There on The Game Station, I died for the first time. Rose, The Doctor’s companion brought me back to life. But they had left me in the future, so I chose a time to meet the Doctor in the past. That time period was the early 21st Century. Unfortunately my Time Vortex Manipulator, or just Vortex Manipulator for short, was on the fritz and left me stranded in 1869.
I died my second death in 1892 when a man on Ellis Island New York shot me and I awoke later. Apparently I had drawn the attention of a group of Victorian Secret Agents known as Torchwood. In 1899 I was captured and when I was deemed to be non-threatening, they offered me a job. So I worked for Torchwood in Cardiff Wales since then trying to work from the inside to change it. On New Year’s Eve, 1999 I came back to the Hub to find my team shot to death by our leader. He told me he saw the future and he had no place in it, so he took his own life in front of me leaving me in charge.
Through the years I recruited a team to help me save the world. We went through Hell together. Now, only a few of them survive. Gwen Cooper, she’s safe with her husband Rhys. And there’s myself. I have been off world for a while now, since my friend died not too long ago.
So now you all know the story of Jack Harkness. Now what are we going to do about bringing your dad back, Claire?”
This is going to be a primarily Star Trek fanfic series known as A Singular Destiny (named after the TNG relaunch novel) and is filled with elements of many tv, movies, books, and games all thrown in for fun and interesting settings and interactions, so please forgive me if it seems as though Star Trek is not in the immediate chapters - it won't be (I mean, c'mon they are in the Mid 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th centuries and we are starting from 2008/2010, for gosh sakes
) Kudos for anyone who can pick out the Easter Eggs (there will be egg salad in this series, so have fun and the blue ones will be really tasty)
So here comes the Prologue of Stargate: New Frontiers, Part 1 in the Star Trek: A Singular Destiny Series.
Stargate: New Frontiers
Prologue: And So It Begins
“Why Miss Shaw, I do declare, it is nice to hear from you again.”
“Why Thank You, Captain Harkness. I take it from GPS, that you are not in the neighborhood?”
“You are correct, madam. However, I am presently unengaged for the moment. What can I do for you?”
“Meet with me in one hour, and we will talk. Use my present GPS address.”
“My dear, you must have an amazing faith in my capability of getting from the planet Zog to Earth in that time.”
“Jack, you and I both know that you now have a functioning Vortex Manipulator. I’ll see you in one hour.”
And so it was that Captain Jack Harkness made his way back to planet Earth, albeit in a sorry state. His efforts to drown himself would have to wait for another time.
In Manhattan, at the Petrelli Residence, Miss Shaw, aka, Mrs. Angela Petrelli was busy waiting for Jack. She knew he could do something. The idea that Claire could be so impetuous and be such a reckless individual was nothing new to Angela. She herself was that way at times. However, she had no intention of letting this dream come to pass. She needed Jack to listen and to act accordingly. She had at most four hours before Claire did the unthinkable. Since the others would be occupied, she was going to have to work from outside the family.
Jack teleported to the Petrelli Residence and looked at the Brownstone with awe. He had not been to New York since his incident in the 1920’s. He had expected never to return, but today was a special day. Angela, his beloved, was calling on him. He owed her big time, and in a way, he had hoped that this was a way to make up for Ianto. Even though nothing could ever make up for Ianto, in his opinion, this could help him sort it out a bit.
He rang the doorbell and she came. She looked more mature, but in her eyes he could see the young woman she had been before that man had taken it from her. The woman she was destined to be, the one in whom he knew could see the future and would work for change in the present.
“Captain Jack Harkness, it is good to see you.”
“Miss Shaw. Or should I say Mrs. Petrelli?”
“Don’t you dare, you know what kind of a man he was.”
“I do now. I didn’t then. But he was always secretive.”
“Indeed. Please come in, sit down. Rest yourself. You have had a hard month I take it?”
“Yes, Ianto was my love. I wish that I could have saved him, both times. But he was a trooper. He went into Hell and back to save all of us, and to seal the rift. I know he knows how much he meant to me, and I know how much I meant to him. I just came back from Zog, having met a nice young man named Alonso Frame. The Doctor introduced us. Do you have any word about him?”
“Once Torchwood One was destroyed, you know that Torchwood Four went underground. We renamed ourselves the Company. To our employees, we have always been the Company. We have some interesting findings about Specials, like you Captain. If you want to, we can work together on that. However, there is something you need to know about. You know about my granddaughter Claire Bennet?”
“Advanced Healing and Regeneration. She was brought up by Noah and Sandra Bennet. Her adoptive brother is Lyle Bennet. She was raised in Odessa Texas. Attended Union Wells High School, where on Homecoming Night 2006 she had the misfortune to meet and survive an encounter with Gabriel Gray, aka, Sylar.”
“Well done, Captain. You know about Noah and Peter, my son?”
“I know their backgrounds.”
“Well Claire is about to jump from a Ferris wheel in Central Park in about two hours and expose Specials to the world. My dream was explicit in that detail. I need you to make it look like a fake. Make her look like a stunt artist. She could use the pay. I will set up interviewers to be there, but you need to make it look convincing. Can you do that for me, Jack?”
“With a functioning Vortex Manipulator and two hours, of course I can.”
Within a few minutes, Jack was in Central Park near the Ferris wheel. He jumped back to yesterday, dug around the base of the wheel and placed cushions underneath the exact location that Claire would land. Then he replaced the topsoil and sod to make it look convincingly that she had jumped crash landed and then got up doing her thing of replacing dislocated joints and broken bones.
In his statement to the press, he would claim that Claire was a contortionist extraordinaire who could displace her entire extremities – legs, feet, arms, hands, fingers and toes, jump from high distances with cushions beneath and not feel a thing, since she knew how to jump and land safely without pain, and then in her finale would pop her joints back into place engrossing the populace, as her stunt required.
He knew she would hate him for a long time, so he had to head that off as well. So, he decided to look up her friends she cared about – Zachary Edwards, West Rosen, Alexander Woolsey, and Gretchen Berg – and invite them to play along.
Finding Zach
Zach Edwards was finally out of school. Hooray for small miracles. He was just getting ready to mail his application in for the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, when someone knocked on his door.
A handsome man in his late thirties was standing on the other side of the screen door. He was dressed in a vintage World War 2 overcoat, and from what Zach could see he wore a blue shirt with suspenders and military blue pants.
“Can I help you?”
“Hi, I’m Captain Jack Harkness. I am trying to help Claire Bennet. I know you two were friends back in junior year, so could you help me?”
“You’re trying to help Claire?”
“Yes, at the behest of her Grandmother, Angela Petrelli. You see, Claire is about to rat out Specials. I know you know what I’m talking about. You were there when she jumped from a Gravel Rig. I know about that from her dad – Noah Bennett. Now I am trying to stop her from doing the same thing, only this time off a Ferris wheel in Central Park in front of reporters and millions of viewers. I have the footage of that if you like. I am trying to make it so that she becomes the most interesting stunt woman in history, instead of the woman who puts Specials on the Governments of the World’s Most Watched and Wanted Lists. Would you help me?”
“Who are you?”
“I am a Special, just like Claire. In fact, her grandmother and I were together in 1971, but that’s neither here nor there. Just so you know, I can do what she can do – want me to prove it?”
“No, just tell me what to do.”
Going West for Rosen
Jack Harkness appeared at West Rosen’s new apartment, in Las Vegas. He knew the young man was paranoid, but this was ridiculous. He scanned the door, and found trip wires, a homemade stunner attached to the doorknob, and even an alarm on the windows. He needed to be careful. This man could fly, like Nathan Petrelli used to. West was a good kid, but easily spooked.
West was listening to his latest CD of Avril Lavigne, when someone knocked at his door. He looked through the peephole, and there was a man in a trench-coat, flashing a badge. To be blunt, West panicked. He remembered being taken when he was five; he remembered his uncle helped him escape the Man with the Horn-Rimmed Glasses. He knew his uncle had helped the doctors at first, but he needed to know if this man worked for Uncle Lee or not, so he dialed him up.
“West, I am Captain Jack Harkness, I work for Claire’s Grandmother, Angela Petrelli. We are trying to stop her from exposing Specials; your uncle, Doctor Lee Rosen calls them Alphas.”
West opens the door. “My Uncle is on the line.”
He takes out his cell phone and presses it on. “Doctor Rosen. Captain Jack Harkness, do you remember me?”
“Yes, yes of course I do. It’s been a long time. What seems to be the problem?”
“A girl named Claire Bennet is about to expose Alphas to the world.”
“How did you do that,” West demanded.
Jack ignored him.
“What, that could lead to horrible things happening, like in Nazi Germany. We both know about that, Jack. West may be too young to remember the experiments done on him by Torchwood, or the Company, but he does remember Noah Bennet. ”
“Then you know that exposing Alphas is a BAD thing in this time and place, correct?”
“I agree with you completely. Is West still on?”
“I’m here, Uncle Lee.”
“West, this man is a good man. I helped him locate a Doctor friend of his in the late nineties. Listen to me, please. If he can help you stop this Claire girl from exposing you, than by all means, help him. I will do what I can to assist him.”
“Claire wants to expose us,” he asks Jack with a questioning look.
“Yes, tonight. In Central Park in front of millions. Now I have a friend of Claire’s in a van – Zachary Edwards – but it’s sort of a long story. You see, the van’s in a parking garage in New York, in 2010.
On the day Claire exposes us.”
“Us, you mean…”
“Yes, I’m Special too.”
“Uncle Lee, can you be there, we may need some help.”
“Tell me the date and time, and I will be there to help.”
Alex’s Quest
San Francisco, California was nice this time of year, thought Richard Woolsey. It was much nicer than stuffy old Washington. He remembered how Atlantis crashed just beyond the Bay Bridge, and standing on the Observation Deck with the Atlantis Command Crew when all was safe again a year ago. Now, he was at his sister’s home with her son, Alex. He was playing a computer game made by the SGC to filter out potential candidates to travel through the Stargate to the destination of the ninth chevron. He was quite good in fact. Alex had always had a talent for electronic games.
Since the Destiny had already been located, the game was simply figuring out who could help out at Atlantis, the Antarctic Outpost, Stargate Command, or even the newly rebuilt Midway Station. Not one to toot his own horn, but it was gratifying that one of his own relatives could be as smart as was needed to become a member of Stargate Command. He was just about to call General O’Neill and Colonel Carter about Alex, when a knock came at the door.
“Uncle Rick, could you get it?”
No one, normally, except Alex, ever called Richard Woolsey Rick, not even the other members of his family. Richard thought it was cool to be called that by someone who looked up to him, so he said yes.
He opened the door to see who it was, and there stood a spectre from his past. It was 1975 and he was in Grad School, when this man who was very noticeable to the other students, as they were trying to get his attention (males and females), and he just looked at Richard. For a full ten minutes before walking over and introducing himself.
“Jack Harkness and you are?”
“Uhmm. Richard Woolsey.”
“Well Rick, may I call you Rick?” He nods.
“Rick, can we go to your place? I just feel connected to you. I can’t explain it. I just do.”
It was one time, and never again. The man was gone and never seen again before today.
“Hello, Rick, mind if I come in?”
“You! You never changed. How do you look like that, after nearly 35 years?”
“Thanks. I get that a lot. But I’m here to see Alex.”
“Oh, no! No you don’t! You’re not going to do to him what you did to me. No way in Hell!”
“Richard, this is between me and Alex…”
At this, Alex came to the door and saw the man in the trench-coat. Remembering what Claire said long ago about the Company, and the Government, naturally he ran.
“Great, just great!”
As they run, Jack gets an idea to use the Vortex Manipulator as a teleport and beams directly in front of Alex as he was looking behind him. Alex runs full force into Jack, and falls down.
“How did you do that?”
“Not important, what is important is that a friend of yours is about to expose us. Claire Bennet? She’s about to make us public.”
“Why would she do that? She tried to save me and my family. We only just got our lives back, thanks to my Uncle Rick.”
“Yeah, well she must have a reason; maybe she’s tired of all the running, hiding and the danger. But you and I both know that if she exposes us, she will bring it all down on us even worse.”
“When you say us, you mean?”
“Us. Now I do have a plan. It’s in motion, but it will work. I need for you and a couple of her friends to wait until the right moment. This will provide some amazing job opportunities in the future for all of you, but you must be ready to confront her or she’ll bail and expose us even worse.”
“Okay what do I do?”
“We go back to your place and let’s fill in your Uncle, at least about helping Claire, no need to expose us to him.”
“Okay.”
Gettin’ Gretchen
Gretchen Berg was in a pickle. She was now a junior in college and decided that she wanted to work in fashion design. She didn’t have the resources that many did. In fact, she was quite poor. But she did have talent. The fact was that Claire Bennet was out there wearing her fashions was cool enough. She knew all about Union Wells and her death drop from the second story about three months prior. Her friend was Special and she wanted to be in her life. She loved her very much, but wasn’t sure that Claire truly felt the same way. They did kiss once, but she did tell her that while she cared about Gretchen, she did not love Gretchen like that.
A knock on the door brought her out of her reverie. The man was handsome in an underwear model sort of way. Hmm. Maybe…nahh. Oh well, she thought, and opened the door.
Jack Harkness stood looking into the face of Gretchen Berg. His gaydar went bonkers at this one. She had all the telltale signs. Broody, cute but not pretentious about it, very subtle and even a bit bossy. He liked her immediately.
“Gretchen Berg? Tonight you get to make history or break it. Your friend is going to make a plunge which could be the death of all those who are Special. I know that you understand me.”
She knew exactly what he was talking about. But if Claire was going to jump and expose them all, she would be killing everyone close to her. She needed to help stop her.
“What do I do?”
Interlude
“Tell me about it,” says Zach. “When I first met Claire, back in Kindergarten we got along great, up until freshmen year at Union Wells. Then she joined the Cheer leading Squad. She started hanging out with Jackie Wilcox, until she stood up to the bitch and got elected for Class President.”
“Wait a sec, you mean to tell me that she was a cheerleader? Aww, man. She was a great comic’s salesperson. She knew all of them. Weird,” says Alex.
“Comics? She sold comics? Get out of town. Really? She was an amazing cheerleader at our school. Put this bitch Debbie Marshall in her place – with me of course. Caused a bit of a scandal really,” says West.
Just then, Jack returned with Gretchen Berg in tow.
“All right, here’s the game-plan, okay? In about 45 minutes, Claire is going to make her jump. When she does, Zach, got the extra footage?”
“Yep.”
“Good. Gretchen, got those fashion designs?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Alex? Got the media covered?”
“Yes.”
“Okay West, I need you to be there to grab her hand and bow, when she restores her joints that is.”
“Will do, Captain.”
“All right then Alex, call your Uncle. We need him on Central Park West and 66th Street Transverse Road. You got that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Okay then, let’s roll.”
Endgame
“Ladies and Gentlemen can I have your attention, please. That was stunt-woman Claire Bennet, everybody. Isn’t she amazing, folks? She’s a contortionist extraordinaire, who can dislocate her joints, jump from any height up to ten stories land on a cushion and not feel a thing. Give her a round of applause, everyone!”
‘Who is that man? And why is West here seeming to go along with him?’
“Sorry, Claire, we just couldn’t let you expose us yet. Too many of us are just getting their lives back in order – I’m one of them. You must understand that, right?”
“I hate you, all of you!”
“You’ll understand, later. Anyways, your Grandmother says hi. She needs you now more than ever, if we are to rescue your father.”
“Dad,” thinking immediately about Noah Bennet.
“Yes, Nathan Petrelli.”
Then it dawns on her. West was there. Nathan died to save her, Peter almost died the same day, facing Sylar. Peter forced Sylar to become Nathan, and then Nathan’s essence disappeared from Sylar. Peter told her about that just the other day, the entire truth. Now, she had a chance to help restore Nathan to life. She decided she would, but who was the man that was in the overcoat talking to the press? He must have been working with Angela to make all this come to pass.
Wait a minute, what is Zach doing here. He’s showing the footage of her trying to die! This is not happening. Oh! This isn’t good. Wait again. But the people are loving it. Over there’s Gretchen and… Alex? Oh this is low, even for Angela.
Choosing the only people in the last four years, that she ever got acquainted with and close to, and using them in this lie about her to hide the truth. While Gretchen was speaking about the fashions Claire was wearing and showing many more to the reporters, Alex was showing them some pyrotechnics and blue-screen and green-screen technologies that he developed, and the interviewers were eating it up. Her friends all wanted to cover this up so badly that they would protect her and help her without a thought. Now that man was talking again.
“So please understand that this young lady and her business associates were brought here tonight by the Sullivan Brother’s Carnival to show the world what wonders can be achieved through cooperation and the amazing talents of these people. But Samuel Sullivan had been cheating these wonderful people out of their time, talents and their money. Grifting locals the world over and taking advantage of everyone here for years. In cold blood, so that he could continue, he murdered his own brother, Joseph, who was going to help them be free. But with your help, these awesomely talented people can start anew in the mainstream and bring in the people who love to see them. Thank you for your support.”
Peter had seen the whole display with Noah, and Hiro, and Gabriel Gray. What he saw made him think that something was up. As the crowd dispersed, he went up to the man.
“Hi, Peter. It’s been a long time. And before you ask, yes, I work for your mother. She called me in to make sure that people walked away from this in freedom, not in chains.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood Three, Cardiff, UK.”
Noah had walked up on the two, and nodded at Jack.
“Hello Jack, it’s been a long time. How is Wales?”
“Not good, I just got myself blown up a few times over there, and am on a break. Torchwood Three is underground since they gave us the Blank Page.”
“Oh dear. I heard about that, and I heard about Tosh, Owen and Ianto. I’m sorry, but while you’re here, welcome to America.”
“I’ve been here before, Noah. I came here as a favor to Angela. You know that in the ‘70’s before she met Arthur Petrelli, Angela and I were very close. On the verge of getting married, but then Arthur came in and swept her off her feet.”
“I take it you’ll be around for a while?”
“Just for a bit, but I am not officially alive at the moment.”
“Well, Claire has no clue who you are, and what just happened. I’m sure that she’s working it out that Angela was at the heart of it.”
“She is smart, I learned that much from her taste in friends, but we have to get everyone out of here safely. Remember West Rosen?”
“Of course, the boy who could fly.”
“Remember Lee Rosen?”
“The doctor? Yes I do. What of him?”
“He’s got my van out on 66 Transverse. Not too far from here. I had him paint it to advertise the stunt crew’s contact info. Let’s get the main performers out of the park and to that point. Then let’s meet at that diner in Coyote Sands in two days. I’ll explain it all there.”
“How long have you planned all of this,” asks Peter?
“My time or yours?”
Peter knew immediately what he meant. “Both.”
“Well from my temporal perspective, 2 hours. From yours, two years.”
Epilogue
The Coyote Sands Diner rarely had this many people at any time of year. The Petrelli Family (excluding Nathan, Heidi, and the kids), the Nakamura-Masahashi Family (including Kimiko), the Bennet Family (reunited – including Zach, and Gretchen), the Rosen Family, the Woolsey Family, and Jack Harkness, Gabriel Gray and Tracy Strauss all sat in the diner ordering enough food to feed an army.
Jack had rented out the entire establishment the day of Claire’s jump and had been here enough times in the past to know that these people never told anyone anything. So he began talking to everyone.
“My name is Captain Jack Harkness. I was born another name, on planet 2 galaxies over from here in the year 5067. I lost my brother and the entire colony in 5078 to an invasion of alien creatures. They tortured my brother for years until he escaped them. When I was 17, I was inducted into the Time Agency – the Face of Boe they called me, due to my living in the community on the Boeshane Peninsula on Arraticus III. I served in the Time Agency for many years until I was face down in London 1941, having lost two years of my life. There I enlisted as an American Volunteer in the War Effort as a Pilot, assuming the name of Captain Jack Harkness. That has been my name for over two thousand years.
I decided to become a con artist in revenge against the Time Agency, and on my first con I ran into a young woman from 2005. She was the companion of a man titled The Doctor. He was a Time-Lord. His race is legendary among the star-faring races and he himself was a rogue one at times. Time-Lords and Time-Ladies have the unique ability to deny death. They regenerate completely into a new person with the same memories and experiences, but a new life. They generally get 13 lives in which to do this.
I met The Doctor in his Ninth Incarnation. We saved humanity that day from a capsule which unleashed medical nanobots called nanogenes. They were from a race called the Chula and would rebuild dead or injured Chula warriors on the battlefield into fighting condition. Unfortunately, I and my revenge nearly broke time by allowing the medical capsule to fall on London in the Blitz. The nanogenes found a boy who had been killed by a bomb and reconstructed him according to their programming never having met a human before. Anyone touched by the child would turn into a gas-masked face zombie.
The Doctor solved the issue, and a German bomb got rid of my Chula Warship. I traveled with the Doctor for some time and we ended up in the year 200,100. There on The Game Station, I died for the first time. Rose, The Doctor’s companion brought me back to life. But they had left me in the future, so I chose a time to meet the Doctor in the past. That time period was the early 21st Century. Unfortunately my Time Vortex Manipulator, or just Vortex Manipulator for short, was on the fritz and left me stranded in 1869.
I died my second death in 1892 when a man on Ellis Island New York shot me and I awoke later. Apparently I had drawn the attention of a group of Victorian Secret Agents known as Torchwood. In 1899 I was captured and when I was deemed to be non-threatening, they offered me a job. So I worked for Torchwood in Cardiff Wales since then trying to work from the inside to change it. On New Year’s Eve, 1999 I came back to the Hub to find my team shot to death by our leader. He told me he saw the future and he had no place in it, so he took his own life in front of me leaving me in charge.
Through the years I recruited a team to help me save the world. We went through Hell together. Now, only a few of them survive. Gwen Cooper, she’s safe with her husband Rhys. And there’s myself. I have been off world for a while now, since my friend died not too long ago.
So now you all know the story of Jack Harkness. Now what are we going to do about bringing your dad back, Claire?”
To Be Continued…
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