Registry of the Non-Evolved Database
File #30 Aug 2009 16:38
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 Ashley Crow |
Alexandra (Sandra) Bottomgardner was born on June 4th, 1967 to Frank and Mary Bottomgardner in Utica, New York. Her father was a veterinarian who owned his own animal clinic, where as her mother was home a lot more often, breeding prize winning flowers, often crossbreeding different kinds to make more magnificent flowers. She was well cared for as a baby, and even as a child, with a constant feeling of love and safety that her parents provided.
She always thoroughly enjoyed whenever her father got to bring home puppies, though it was not often. There was the rare time when a dog had puppies and the owners didn’t want all of them, so he would bring them home until he could find a proper home them. This began Sandra’s love for animals, especially dogs. She had a natural affinity for taking care of them, and grooming them. As she would often tell her father, she ‘liked making them look pretty’. She also liked helping her mother with the flowers, for pretty much the same reason. She liked that they were pretty. As she grew, learned much from her mother about gardening and taking care of plants, and she showed a good amount of raw talent when working with them.
During her school age days of elementary and secondary schools, she wasn’t the highest achiever by any means. It’s not that she didn’t do well and pass her classes, but she often only got average marks. In high school she became a cheerleader, quite enjoying the activity and the friendships that grew out of it. She would become really good friends with some of the other cheerleaders, keeping in contact with them after graduation. Throughout her teenage years, she became quite adept at making fake IDs, as she used many of them to sneak into concerts.
Upon graduation from high school in 1985, at the age of 18, Sandra attended Arlington University, where she began her studies in Psychology, Biology, English, and Philosophy. She would soon join the Psi Alpha Chi sorority, meeting some of her best friends there. It was at Arlington University, as well, that she met Noah Bennet, who was a graduate student and Teachers Assistant for her Psychology 101 class. They clicked from the moment they met. While it was clear to both of them, even only after a few weeks, that they both loved each other immensely. After a few weeks Sandra started to get worried. Noah would often come knocking on her door or phone her at all hours of the night, often waking her roommate and others in sorority house. He would tell her that he just wanted to see her and talk to, but it scared her. Those weren’t the only strange occurrences, however. Sandra found it quite difficult to reach Noah, and was hardly ever able to reach him when she really wanted to. It got to the point where the most she saw of him was while in her Psychology class, when he would be working as the TA. She nearly broke up with him quite a few times in those short months, despite feeling an immense love for him. While it initially went against her instincts, when Noah asked her to marry him after only a few short months of dating, she said yes. She was madly in love with him, and he had a sort of…dangerous and very handsome quality about him. She was resolute that they would work through any problems that there were. They stayed there for a few more years, allowing Sandra to finish off a degree in Biology.
From there, they moved to New York City, where as far as Sandra was concerned, Noah was beginning his work with the Primatech Paper Company. Sandra, on the other hand, began learning how to breed and raise prizewinning show dogs. She worked with a dog breeder for a couple of years. Finally, when she felt confident enough, she acquired her own dog, and began the process of going around to dog shows and breeding what she hoped was a winning dog with other people who wanted to raise pups that would grow into prize winners. With all that she had going on to keep her occupied, she hardly ever noticed if Noah was gone for long periods of time. It never even occurred to her that someone so low down the chain in a paper company would require so much travel.
After a few years of living in New York, Noah struck her with a big topic. Adoption. He told her that there was a child that he had heard from colleagues, just a baby, who needed a family. He seemed to feel so strongly about adopting this baby, a girl named Claire. After talking it over and giving it a good think over, they decided to adopt. They could not be happier. Claire was never a fussy baby, and she never got sick, which was a pleasant surprise to them. After a couple years, the family was moved down to Odessa, Texas, where Noah had been transferred with Primatech. It was there that Noah and Sandra had another child, Lyle.
Their lives in Odessa were what could be considered normal. While Noah was promoted to District Manager of Primatech, and thus had to travel a fair bit for his job, Sandra continued to raise show dogs and the children. That’s not to say that Noah wasn’t around to help with the kids. Whenever he wasn’t traveling, he’d do his share around the house and help take care of the kids when she was busy with her dog shows. The year that Claire turned 12, a new dog entered the family. The dog was Pomeranian by the name of Mr. Muggles. He soon became a favorite of the family, especially Sandra, who was reminded of all the puppies she would make pretty as a child. He was absolutely doted on by Sandra, who would constantly groom him, feed him special food, and constantly buy what she would consider ‘fashionable’ clothing for him, including a pair of sunglasses which he could often be seen sporting.
When Claire was in high school, she started asking about her real parents. Sandra was resistant to the idea, stating that she and Noah were her real parents, having raised her lovingly. The girl was adamant though, and Noah was the one who finally agreed, and found, who he claimed, was her real parents. It was after that event that strange things really started to happen, including Claire being attacked at school, and the attacker, a man named Sylar, visiting their home. Not that Sandra remembered any of this, as whenever it happened, or when anything out of the ordinary happened, Noah would have The Haitian erase her memory. The constant memory wiping finally had its effects, however. One day when Claire came home, Sandra was found freaking out at the sight of their dog, Mr. Muggles, claiming not to know who he was, nor did she know whom Claire was, demanding that she leave her home immediately. It was at that moment that she fainted. At the hospital, it was discovered that she had a subdural hematoma and that it was situated in the area of the brain that controlled memory. While Claire believed it to be the cause of the memory wipes that Sandra received from The Haitian, Sandra herself never truly discovered the reason.
Upon returning home from the hospital, they found themselves held up by two, very angry men. Ted Sprague and Matt Parkman seemed to have a bit of a problem with Noah, and wanted to get some information from him. When Matt shot Claire, she was devastated. She thought for sure that her daughter was dead. There wasn’t a thought in her mind otherwise. Ted tied both her and Lyle up, while Noah and Matt took Claire’s body upstairs. Little did the others know that Claire would regenerate.
While Matt and Noah go to Primatech to find answers, Ted stayed to keep watch over Lyle and Sandra, the only ones he believes to be alive. During this time, Claire makes a rescue attempt of her brother and mother. While Lyle escaped outside with Mr. Muggles, Ted got a hold of Claire and Sandra refused to leave without Claire. It was at that moment that Matt and Noah returned. The information that they had gathered did not make Ted any happier. While the Haitian saved Sandra and Claire, Ted began to lose control of his power. Though everyone escaped the house, Claire rushed back in, much to the protests of her parents. She believed she was the only one who could stop Ted. While Ted’s explosion was lessened, the home still began to burn down, and Claire emerged, extremely burnt, from the house where everyone, including Noah’s boss, saw her regenerate. Claire was thus forced to leave home, though it pained Sandra to see her daughter leave.
From then on, their family began to live a facade. Soon after Claire left, the rest of the Bennets left home, with both the senior Bennets now knowing the truth behind the Company. They moved to Costa Verde, California and changed their last name to Butler, hoping to start their lives anew and to escape the Company. There was, however, always an empty space where the wished Claire could be. Sandra stopped entering dog shows, though she started to work with another dog breeder, in order to help make money for the family. It came as a shock to the family, and indeed the whole nation, when a bomb exploded in the middle of New York City. People were afraid; they didn’t know how that could happen. Everyone, including the Bennet family, was shaken. Sandra, who had kept up her strength and composure, began to fear. She didn’t like what was happening, and she was afraid for her whole family. She was especially afraid for Claire, who she missed greatly but had no idea where she was. However, later that year, during December, Claire showed up at their door in Costa Verde, saying that she wanted to come home again, and stay with them. They welcomed her with open arms.
Life started to get back into a swing of things. Claire went to the same high school that Lyle was attending, and Sandra even seemed a little proud of her daughter when it was discovered that she had a boyfriend. Noah, on the other hand, was found to be a little upset at this prospect, having wanted their family to keep as a low a profile as possible. With some soothing from Sandra, he finally came to accept the fact, though it took some work on her end and reluctance on his. In all honesty, Sandra liked West. She thought him to be a good, kind young man. He was so nice, too. Claire certainly couldn’t go wrong with him.
Their lives were as normal as could be expected, under the circumstances. That is, until the Linderman Act was introduced, however. The thought of it made Sandra angry, in all honesty. She didn’t believe that people should have to register themselves if they were evolved. She saw it as a form of discrimination. Perhaps she felt more adamant about this because her daughter was evolved, but regardless, she did not like the sound of it. She believed that as soon as people were discovered as evolved, they would be treated like others who were different throughout history. That they’d be shunned, even physically hurt because of their differences. She was right, too. She was at a loss for what to do about it, however. This was the government they were talking about, not some organization working of it’s own accord!
Another shock came to Sandra when her daughter, Claire, decided that she should move to New York City to start on her own journey to help others. The only consolation that Sandra had for this was that Claire was going with West, and such Sandra knew that she wasn’t going to be alone. After that, Claire and Sandra had a falling out; not so much because there was an argument between them as much as it was difficult to keep in contact with each other. This filled Sandra with constant worry, always wondering if her daughter was in danger, or if anything had happened to the girl. It felt as if she’d lost her daughter a second time, which devastated her. It was made worse when Noah announced that he was going to go to New York as well. He said that it was where he needed to be, but he didn’t tell her why. Sandra was conflicted and angry, to say the least. She didn’t want to be parted with Noah, and she was angry that he was still keeping secrets from her. She felt betrayed, for she thought that they were past keeping secrets from each other. Needless to say, she felt that she was wrong and that he’d betrayed her trust by keeping even more secrets from her. She had tried so hard to keep them in an open relationship…or at least as open as they could be in a family that was in hiding. She made the decision to stay in Costa Verde. She felt needed time away from her husband to think their marriage over, and if she thought it was even worth it for them to stay together. He would constantly be on the move and in danger and she didn’t know if she wanted the sort of uncertainty that came with his life style. Besides that, she wanted Lyle to have a more normal and regular life; she wanted for him to be able to make friends and have stability.
Before long, however, Sandra discovered that her husband had created a group called the Ferrymen, a group to help people who were evolved and were on the run. She couldn’t understand why he hadn’t told her that this was his plan all along. She was annoyed. She would have wanted to help. Noah, however, didn’t want her to help…not at first. He was afraid that some of the evolved people would be dangerous to her, as she was not accustomed to dealing with strange and new abilities. As well, he was afraid of what would happen if it were found out that she was aiding and assisting people who were trying to evade the government. After a while, and some adamant pushing on the part of Sandra, Noah thought of something. He wanted her to set up a safe house. A place for evolved runaways to stay for a while in safety until they could move on to the next location. It took a while for Sandra to forgive Noah; she never truly did, in fact. She was eventually set up properly to run the safe house at an abandoned house elsewhere in town. She received the proper equipment she needed, including a kitchen set (with a fridge and stove) and the amenities needed to live such as beds and couches and a table or two. She even received equipment to create fake IDs. After a few months, the Ferrymen recruited a person named ‘Jamison’ who was sent to help Sandra with the safe house, a person who could spend all his time there. When she bought herself a handgun, it was Jamison who helped teach her how to properly handle it and use it. Although she was constantly curious, she never did find out if Jamison was evolved or not, not that it really mattered to her, of course. Because of her work heading up the safe house, she constantly had to think on her feet. Most of the time it was dissuading a nosey neighbor’s interest of why they saw what seemed to be a constant change of people coming and going from the home, or people with varied abilities getting into arguments. Of course, the worst was always when the police were called because neighbors were complaining about the noise. They eventually came up with a plan and made up fake papers to claim that the house was a home for mentally unstable patients who were between hospital stays, and that Sandra and Jamison were their caretakers.
The stress was not easy on Sandra over those couple of years, the constant worry that they’d be discovered or that the police would come in and provoke one of the people with a more violent ability. Not to say she didn’t keep her head about her in such situations, which she did for the most part, but she often found herself in a constant state of worry. It didn’t help her at all when she was informed that Claire, her own daughter Claire, had joined a terrorist group that were killing people. She couldn’t bear to think that her dear, sweet Claire was killing anyone, let alone putting herself in danger. It didn’t matter to Sandra if Claire could heal herself; the danger was still present, and there was still the possibility that she was killing people. That was the last straw for Sandra. She informed Noah that she and Lyle were moving up to New York and that Jamison could run the safe house in Costa Verde for all she cared. They were packed up and ready to go within the month and made their way up to Empire State.
