(Flashback): Mia experienced a hazy recollection of her apprehension and entry into the ARIF. Her vision began to clear, revealing her strapped to a hospital bed and being transported by a group of fully masked men, clad in overalls bearing the insignia "TECHNOVA."
"Let me go, you assholes!" she shouted in vehement protest.
"I'm afraid that's not an option, love," someone responded, prompting Mia to turn her head to see Mr. Malik approaching. The masked men pushing the gurney came to an abrupt halt as Mr. Malik moved closer for a clearer view.
"Ah, my dear," Mr. Malik began, his tone laced with faux sympathy, "I'm truly sorry that it has to be this way. It would have been far more convenient if you had cooperated with my associates earlier."
He continued, "You see, you harbor a unique pathogen within you, one that could alter everything—transform the world, to be precise. And we have extensive plans for you... for all of you."
A sinister grin crept across his face, sending a shiver down Mia's spine. "Take her to sub-sector 010, secure her in a pod, and initiate the testing," Mr. Malik instructed as he turned to leave, meticulously adjusting his suit. The masked men swiftly carried out his orders, leaving Mia struggling in vain to free herself from her restraints. Her futile attempts eventually gave way to her screaming and crying in frustration.
Mia snapped awake from her trance, her breathing rapid and heavy. The word "TECHNOVA" was sprawled across the walls, leaving her in a state of shock. She turned to find Riley and Alex fixated on her, their attention focused like a needle in a haystack.
"It happened again, didn't it?" Mia gasped, attempting to catch her breath.
"Yeah, it did. Seems like you can do more than just change clothes in your dreams," Riley remarked, pointing out the cryptic inscriptions on the wall to Mia.
Alex, with a genuine concern, inquired, "Are you okay? You can rest if you need to. You definitely look like you could use a breather."
Mia, determined to push forward, replied, "Nah, I'm good. Just give me a sec, and I'll join you in a bit."
"Alrighty then. We've got our suspects to interview. See you downstairs," Riley said as she and Alex exited the room.
The confrontation with the syndicate had set in motion a chain of events that shook the foundations of Hope City. With the casino incident making headlines, the citizens were torn between fear and fascination over the emergence of individuals with extraordinary powers.
In the midst of the chaos, the gang found refuge in an abandoned motel as hideout, a relic from the city's darker days. It became their sanctuary, a place where they could plan their next moves away from prying eyes.
Riley, Alex and Mia join Ethan and jay down in the lobby area where 3 bundled up syndicates where with their mouths gagged, Alex proceeds to ungag them. "Alright start talking!" he says "we ain't saying shit" one of the men says with confidence to Alex. However, the atmosphere shifted when another one of the syndicate members, clearly the youngest among them, suddenly spoke up. He was gripped by fear as he stammered, "There's a thumb drive in my pocket. It contains the details for our next operation. Please, don't hurt me!"
Alex couldn't help but smirk, his tone mocking, as he addressed the first man, "You see, motherf**ker? That wasn't so hard now, was it?"
They all turned their attention to the one who had blurted out the information, his displeasure and fear emanating. With a nod from Alex, Jay stepped forward, retrieving the thumb drive from the man's pocket.
"Got it!" Jay declared triumphantly as he stepped back, clutching the thumb drive.
Suddenly, Alex was struck by a moment of realization. His powers seemed to instinctively detect something amiss.
"Guys, get back—NOW!" he urgently shouted. The group hastily retreated from the detained syndicate members.
"What's going on?" the man who had disclosed the information inquired, his fear evident in his voice.
And then, without warning, the heads of the bundled-up men suddenly exploded, the gruesome sight unfolding like a burst watermelon. In a bid to mitigate the ensuing explosion, Riley employed her telepathic abilities to bring down a cascade of bricks from the ceiling above, minimizing the damage and containing the aftermath.
"Oh my fucking god! What the fuck just happened?" Ethan exclaimed in a loud and bewildered tone, his gaze slowly shifting to the rest of the group, all of them frozen in shock with blood splattered across their faces and the surrounding area.
Mia let out a piercing scream at the top of her lungs, the sheer horror of the moment washing over her. She quickly covered her mouth, her steps faltering as she moved backward, her expression one of disbelief and distress.
They had just experienced genocide with no idea how it happened or why, Jay still in shock slowly sits on the floor as the others still stand and look at the remains of the blown up syndicates in shock. With blood on his face, Alex turns in suspicion to Riley and asks if she did it "what in the world Alex? Do I look like some psycho murdering super powered freak?" she says looking irate in disbelieve "it wasn't her, look, they had explosive devices planted in their heads all along" Jay says as he points down to pieces of what looked like electrical soldering and broken piece of a very miniature green board. "no shit!" Alex says as he steps back to comfort a shell shocked Mia "it'll be alright" he says as he hugs her and lets her cry on his shoulders. "Alright guys, we'll need to clean up this messy situation and give this men a proper sendoff" he says to the rest of them while holding a crying Mia.
The loud city jumbotron which could be heard from all over the city suddenly break transition from an ad to a woman in a white suit with two cops standing behind her. All the walking citizens of the metropolis stop and pay attention to the broadcast "good day citizens of hope city! My name is ZURI GREEN, As you may be aware there were reported incidents of unexplainable events that happened 24 hours ago at glazers casino, as head operative of the just commissioned emergency taskforce I'm urging you to report sightings of this…fugitives we've found befitting to name XENO-HUMANS, be warned not to engage them but to contact the necessary enforcement, the hotline will now be displayed after this message conveys, I urge us all to remain in good faith as we not only recover from recent cataclysmic events that took thousands of lives but now face this unprecedented issue, our hearts may still be broken but our resolve is as strong as ever" she says as the transition seizes and the ad continues to play.
(MEANWHILE) the gang who also could hear the broadcast saw their hearts completely broken by what they had just heard
"XENO-HUMANS huh? Fucking hell! Nobody thought we should have worn masks yesterday when we came up with the great master plan? I knew we shouldn't have gone out in the open! Fuck!!" a frustrated Ethan says to the gang as they continue to sob "hey we're all screwed in this together alright..just chill!" Alex protests back at him.
"This isn't the time to point finger at who the fuck did or didn't do what they were supposed to alright! We'll just need to regroup and forge ahead" he says as he walks towards the center of the room. "Whoever the fuck this folks are they really don't want to be figured out" he says as he tries to rally them up "I mean implanting mini explosive in the heads of their own operatives shows how vile and far they're willing to go " Jay says in agreement "what do we do with the remains?" Mia asks "we'll burn em up" Alex said. "Jay what do we have on that drive?" he asks "y'all gotto come see this" Jay replies
As they huddled together, he displayed the blueprints he had managed to extract from the thumb drive. "This is the main research facility," he explained. "If we're going to find answers about the virus and our abilities, it's there."
Mia studied the blueprints. "It won't be easy to infiltrate, but it's our best shot. We need to know the truth, even if it means facing possible death".
"Alright then it's settled, we've seriously gotto to train and think this through though, we've been careless enough"
The group agreed, and they carefully prepared for the mission. Alex and Riley honed their powers, while Jay practiced blending into crowds and remaining undetected. Ethan devised a plan to hack into the facility's security system and disable any potential threats.
(Elsewhere a car drive into a secret passage underground)
The lieutenant Joe is standing close by as the car packs and security comes down to open up the door for Zuri "what you got for me Joe" Zuri asks, Joe comes forward with a round device that projects a hologram from his hands "we've found em, all of em and we know just how to get em" he say with an evil grin on his face as the hologram displays the five XENO-HUMANS with their names and biodata. "good work Joe" Zuri says with almost a smile on her face" "it seems like we'll be having guest soon!"