In Season 2 of the superhero saga, the nascent heroes learn more about their similarly superpowered families and ancestors. Indestructible cheerleader Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) and her family are forced to go into hiding in California in order to escape the clutches of the Company, an organization that tracks and captures superheroes. While her father, Noah (Jack Coleman), a former employee of the Company, insists she not do anything to attract attention, Claire finds herself attracted to a fellow student (Nicholas D'Agosto) with a superpowered secret of his own. After barely managing to avert a nuclear explosion in Season 1's finale, Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) is presumed dead by his grieving family, only to awaken in Ireland with no idea who he is or how he got there. Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) accidentally time travels to 17th-century feudal Japan, where he encounters his childhood hero, the legendary swordsman Takezo Kensei. But Hiro's joy is short-lived: He discovers that not only is Kensei a white foreigner (David Anders) living in Japan, but he's also a drunken coward who needs Hiro's help in order to achieve his destiny. Hiro eventually returns to the present and learns his father (George Takei) has been killed, the first in a series of murders of superheroes who had been active a generation ago. As the murders continue, it becomes clear that this killing spree is an act of revenge connected to a deadly virus that could spell disaster for humanity. In addition to this threat, the heroes must also deal with the return of superpowered serial killer Sylar (Zachary Quinto) and the arrival of a new villain (Kristen Bell), a mentally unstable agent of the Company with the ability to control lightning and electricity.