In the top floor of a glass and steel monolith in downtown San Francisco, the world burned on thirty screens at once.
Security feeds. Drone footage. Social media live streams. A diner collapsing in a storm of blue and violet lightning.
And the middle of it all, Dr Evelyn Cross- NeoGeneX ,director of operations, stood with her hands clasped neatly behind her back ,as though she were admiring a piece of abstract art .
On the screens, Zeke Carter stumbled out of the wreckage, sparks still twitching at his fingertips. The girl - the one who should not exist - flashed violet light before disappearing.
Cross tilted her head, expression unreadable. "So, it's true.They woke her up."
Behind her, a nervous junior analyst swallowed hard, "ma'am, it...it looks like patient X make contact first, but -"
" Patient X is irrelevant." Cross said, her voice slicing like glass.
" What matters is that we now have two rogue assets in open combat, broadcasting their abilities to the entire state of California."
The boardroom wolves
The room's massive oak table was already filling with suits: NeoGeneX executives,their faces pale and sweating under the glow of the screens.
One of them, a balding man with too much cologne, jabbed a finger toward the footage.
"This is a PR nightmare. Do you know how many tiktok accounts are streaming this? We can't spin it as forever!"
Another with steel -gray hair and eyes like a hawl, leaned back calmly ."forget PR . We should be asking why subject 1-Zara -is alive at all. She was terminated."
" Correction," Crossed smoothly, turning from the screens. " She was archived. The board never had a courage to destroy her."
That silenced the room.
" Now she's awake," Cross continued ,"and colliding with our other loose end. Which means ladies and gentlemen, that containment is no longer an option."
The black file
She pressed the button on the table. A new screen lit up , displaying a classified project file stamped in red : PROJECT
HARBINGER .
The executives shifted uncomfortably. Even in this room, the name carried weight .
Cross smiled faintly. "You all remember Harbinger . The insurance policy. The prototype weapon designed to neutralize them."
Cologne guy cleared his throat. " That project was shelved . Too unstable. Too dangerous to deploy in a populated area."
" Exactly," Cross said. " Which makes it perfect for Redwood Heights."
Murmurs rippled through the room.
The gray -haired hawk man leaned forward. "If you unleash Harbinger ,you risk exposing everything. The experiments, the facilities .Us."
Cross's smile sharpened. " The risk is already gone. Two superpowered teenagers just had a very public light show. The world already knows monsters exist. Better they fear our monster than discover the truth behind it."
Shifting the board .
On the screens, Zeke sat in the ruins of the diner, laughing weekly with Maya while first responders surrounded the wreck.
Cross zoomed in on him, her face narrowing. "Patient Zero ," she whispered.
"The unpredictable variable. He shouldn't even be alive and yet..."
She trailed off ,staring at the sparks still flickering around his hands.
Then she looked at the frozen frame of Zara, lightning seething in her veins.
" he's not the only one."
The decision
The room buzzed with dissent, but Cross silenced them with a single hand raised. "Ladies, gentlemen, listen closely. We don't control this narrative anymore, but we can end it."
She keyed in a final command. Somewhere deep beneath the building, locks disengaged. Metal groaned .
"Harbinger is awake,"
The executives shivered, as if the temperatures had dropped 10°
"And soon," Cross added, "so will the world."
Cut away
Back in Redwood Heights, as sirens wailed and civilians whispered about 'mutants' and 'gods', Zeke sneezed. Sparks flew from his nose, singering his hoodie.
Maya pinched the bridge of her nose." You are literally the worst superhero in history."
And high above them, a drone zoomed in silently, recording every flickerof blue electricity for NeoGeneX.