The ticker tape read: 

MYSTERIOUS MAGNET HERO SAVES TRAIN.

Magnet? Jason’s jaw tightened. His mind flashed back to some schematics he had seen one day after a particularly bad argument with Maya about becoming an interceptor, it resulted in him throwing away her early schematics. So he recognized her tech from the blurry image taken. A silver and blue figure mid-jump. 

His sister. He had warned her against this, against trying to prove herself. He called her immediately.

She didn’t pick up, and Jason didn’t have a chance to call her again, because his internal I.T. comm pinged. Kiera was holding a briefing.

He’d just made it into the room when the CEO of I.T.  said, “We’re going to be conducting a reconnaissance mission.” Kiera declared, addressing the interceptors in the room. Since it was a reconnaissance mission, Jason didn’t expect his Vermillion Destroyer to be deployed on this mission. Still, it was custom for senior interceptors to attend all briefings before a deployment. Situations could change with little notice, so everyone had to be informed and ready to go at anytime.

Jason observed the data currently on the holograph. 

Monique Heissman’s testing centers were the main theme. A paused video was accompanied with the media - buildings of different shapes and sizes but a consistent red design were being presented by the mad scientist herself. 

Kiera had been contacted by an alarmed East Coast Coalition, who believed quick action was needed to investigate what Heissman and the humanoids were up to. They thought she could coordinate a discreet operation since she was one of the few who felt like taking down Heissman right off the bat. While frustrated that it took them so long to come to that conclusion, Kiera knew this was an opportunity the coalition couldn’t miss. Civilians were about to get involved in whatever scheme they were planning. 

“Quite a few of our interceptors are built for strength and destruction,” she looked at Jason, “We need stealth and precision. I’ve called in interceptors from Intermediator Industries to join us on this. They should be here shortly.” She nodded at a man in a corner, “And they will accompany, Jake Jones, one of our more recently graduated pilots.”

The man came forward, dressed in a casual plaid shirt and jeans, He looked like one of the technicians at I.T., and his introduction as a biochemist at I.T. did little to dissuade the idea. “I was a scientist before I somehow graduated as an interceptor,” Jake said humorously in a southern drawl, “and I look forward to doing what I can. I’ve got a wife and daughter at home, so I’m happy to do recon, ma’m.” 

After Jake was welcomed by the room, Kiera played a video, ”We don’t just test for immunity, we help you earn power,” Heissman stated in the video, “together, we can make the Jawal threat obsolete.” The next videos showed people queued for blocks. They wanted the promise Heissman was selling. 

“Jake, your primary mission is to analyze Heissman's procedures  - how they’re testing and what they’re doing to make these humanoids, superhuman. Purpleheart and Mirror will be joining you for infiltration, and Bluestar for extra support. They’ve gotten the same parameters as you. Secure whatever you can without being noticed - we’re working another angle at the same time.

The fight was over in a flash.

Maya had been responding to a small Hole opening in the south of Brooklyn, her sensors indicating she was at the location, when she was suddenly body slammed into an alley wall by an unknown figure. Maya’s suit’s magnetic repulsion field had just barely held, but the impact sent her reeling. A sharp migraine confirmed her body, and not just the suit, had taken damage. 

And I just got here! 

“Get out of my way,” a deep, scratching male voice said by her ear. Out of instinct, she leapt away from him, her magnetic pulse sending her flying feet away. Turning around, she saw an athletic build, fiery red hair, menacing grin, glowing bright electric blue eyes. He was wearing a form-fitting, red and metallic uniform that looked like it had medieval armor and cutting-edge tech at the same time. Is he… one of the Immune? That was the term coined by the news for the super powered individuals. She didn’t recognize this one, though. 

Maya couldn’t ponder his identity for long because he dashed towards her and swung. Maya didn’t hesitate to move out of the way, and thought she could make a run for it - she still had to find the Hole - when her suit suddenly felt too heavy for her. Running on adrenaline and subconscious knowledge of the suit she spent hundred of hours on, she ran every diagnostic and fired up every magnetic technique she could use. She couldn’t move.

Suddenly, her feet were no longer touching the ground.

She heard a manic laugh in the back of her mind, but the panic she was getting from not being able to move her body in the suit and rising into the air without activating flight mode herself made her barely notice it. She rose and rose and rose, a blue energy crackling all around her.

She felt herself hyperventilating, and couldn’t even take a breath to shout before she felt herself slam down into the ground. She screamed from the broken ribs and whiplash to her head. Then she felt herself rise and get slammed down again. And again. By the time she tasted blood in her mouth, she no longer registered the pain or error signs on her HUD. Maya very faintly remembered seeing those terrifying blue eyes again and the sound of an faraway shout before everything went black.

She woke up in a hospital. “She’s awake!” It was Jason’s voice.

“Where-where am I?” Maya asked, dizzy. Someone handed her a cup of water and she drank gratefully.

“I’m surprised I can still use my arm.” She said without thinking. 

“So am I.” Jason was looking at her angrily now, restraining himself from full-blown shouting in the hospital. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

Maya said nothing. Jason explained that another interceptor had been called to investigate the Hole opening when he’d heard the sounds of fighting. Had he been any later, Jason anguished, Maya could have died from internal bleeding or suffocation.

Her suit had been totaled, in worse condition than her body. It was a miracle.

Maya thought she should have felt grateful, should have felt relieved to see her brother, to be alive, but all she could feel was a deep sense of embarrassment. Not even her third time at being an interceptor and she had already been taken out? It was mortifying. Shameful.

Unable to deal with the stress of her emotions, she said, “Can you leave me alone for a few moments?” Jason’s eyes must have sensed how small she felt, because he simply nodded, gave her a careful hug and said he would return with some of her things from their home.

She didn’t have it in her to acknowledge him with even a ‘thank you’. She stared at the sky from her window, mourning her suit when Heissman's face appeared on the room’s TV.  It was an advert promising progress.

Immunity.

Power. 

Junk and a dangerous lie, Jason had texted.  

But what if it’s true? A dark, corrosive thought twisted in Maya’s gut. 

The fear. The constant, gnawing worry that maybe she wasn't strong enough, good enough to be an interceptor. 

She’d have to sit on the sidelines, like every other civilian. 

Living in fear that terrible timing, one lucky bite, and one unlucky DNA strand was all it would take to turn her into the creatures she despised. 

Against her body’s warning, and against Jason’s warning, Maya pulled herself out of the hospital bed and left to see if she could take fate into her own hands.