Claude was originally born in Lancashire, England, where he stayed and lead a reasonably normal life until one summer's day in his late teens. It wasn't until that day that he'd realize exactly how mediocre his life had been, because you start to get a whole different kind of view on the world… when the world ceases to have a view on you. One day, it had simply happened- he'd woken up one morning and the daylight had failed to find him.
He remained unwillingly invisible a whole day, clueless as to what he should do with this newfound ability. Eventually he merely chose to sit around and observe people, keeping as quiet and out of the way as he possibly could. His first day of invisibility ended fairly eventless when he returned him and dozed off in his room far past midnight and flickered back into visibility a few seconds later. When he woke up and discovered he could be seen again (mostly through getting yelled at by his parents who had worried themselves sick), he knew he'd experienced something special. Something he should hold on to, and - if at all possible - keep a secret.
But it wouldn't be long before he grew careless with his new gift, when he could even call upon it. As his grades started to drop, rumors started to rise- Claude would appear in places people had not seen him travel to. Or sometimes he would simply have simply disappeared without leaving. Young as he was he had not yet realized the full potential nor the full risk of these powers.
Someone else had, though. By the time he was 21 he'd built up quite the reputation for himself, and was subsequently approached by Ivan Spektor. The Company took him in, despite his parents' wishes, and helped in teaching Claude how to use his abilities more effectively. When he was sufficiently trained, he was sent out on low priority missions; keeping an eye on new recruits while invisible, trivial things. He proved his worth as time went by, going largely unnoticed by whoever he was sent to follow. Once he was deemed experienced enough he was sent out on more danger-prone missions to retrieve information, and it was in doing this that he realized exactly what kind of work he was doing.
Claude became wary of the company and its affiliations, but managed to hide this well. After all, the more he learned about his place of business the more he realized this wasn't the kind of job you could just quit. Especially not when you're essentially just a pawn. So he started trying to work his way up instead, offering to help the cause more and more. The Company was pleased with such an enthused employee, especially seeing his rate of success at this point in time. Eventually they even paired him up with Noah Bennet for more complicated tasks.
What they did not know, however, is that a lot of the information Claude retrieved for the Company, he would copy down and keep stored away in a bank vault under a false name. Ultimately he even took to sneaking around the Company itself, and was appalled to find some of the things that were going on right under his nose. The things he was helping happen.
He started fitting the pieces together at home, trying to figure out who and when the Company would be wanting to harm. Whenever he could he would warn these people beforehand, telling them to get away, to run before it was too late. Some who did not wish to leave he trained to defend themselves just as he had been. He did not nearly get to as many people as he would have liked, but it was enough for him to be satisfied. Unfortunately, this was also enough for the Company to notice something was amiss. The evidence against Claude came relatively easy with but a few adjustments of the cameras around the offices.
Claude soon thereafter overheard Bennet being given instructions to kill him, but nevertheless joined him when he was asked to go out on a mission. Thinking he could sway the other man into letting him go, and change his mind about his loyalty to the Company. This was to no avail, and Claude was shot twice in the chest before he managed to go invisible and was subsequently left for dead.
A lift, hospital visit and a disappearing act later he retrieved his information and set off to continue what he had been doing- only now, he was able to devote ALL of his time to it. He did this for years, without communicating with anyone he didn't necessarily need to talk to. Food was easily stolen, and apartments easily gotten into when he wanted a good day's rest. Until instead of him finding people— someone found him, and he met Peter Petrelli. Both taking pity on the distraught Peter and taking interest in his story, Claude eventually agreed to help him try to control his powers. Little did he know that this would eventually lead the Company right to them, and he was taken down with a taser gun before insisting that Peter make a run for it.
At this time, the information he managed to withhold and copy from the Company became both a blessing and a curse. The curse was obvious enough once he was sedated and woke up in a barren cell that he was unable to escape from. But the blessing was definitely there- if he hadn't hidden information on dozens more Evolved individuals that they possibly didn't even know about, someone would have killed him already. Now no longer considered a threat or a nuisance, he was left to his own devices until every time they would receive word of people who had possibly cooperated with him in the past. Whenever put under pressure through torture or threats, he would let loose nearly useless bits of information, keeping him believed useful enough to keep alive.
