Sam was scrolling through the information inside one of the four files he had “liberated” from the government, this was the one about the “phoenix” boy who apparently somehow also was from Phoenix, what were the odds!” The files said his name was Thomas Gray, a high schooler with normal grades, bullied frequently, and victim of parental abuse.

To Sam, the red-haired boy with his pale skin and thin body seemed like a normal high school kid, in this file it was even mentioned he wore glasses but it seemed like they had been taken from him. In these files (which he had located with the numbers on the cages in which these four had been trapped), stood all details about his life, family all up to the point of him awakening powers.

Sam realized that even though they had started this file after the boy awakened his powers that they had tried to find every piece of information that was available about him, due to how extensive the list of information was they had been very successful in finding it. Apparently, he had been discovered when he was observed with a security camera while he was making a small candle flame dance on his fingertips, the files stated that from that point they had observed him and had prepared for capturing him.

The file had seemingly ended after Thomas died, something the hidden camera in his house confirmed, his mother had beaten him to death with a pan, breaking his neck, a feeling that Sam himself knew and he immediately felt sorry for Thomas. The file had then been in the process of closing before abruptly being reopened after which someone wrote. “THE BOY LIVES.”

Then there was a link showing footage from the camera inside the house, it was what had prompted Sam to rush to Medrano once he had read what was written below, “like a phoenix.” The footage showed the battered face of Thomas, then his body started to smoke before bursting out in flames, after the flames the video stopped, the camera had been destroyed.

After that, the fire apparently blasted out of his body, and with the force of a gas explosion the house had been torn to burning, blazing shreds. The agents of the organization had made their move and somehow managed to get Thomas outside where after regaining consciousness he was knocked out once again, apparently he had tried to burn his way out of the truck that was transporting him before he was put in the container.

The files also listed his powers, “pyrokinesis: confirmed, self-combustion and regeneration after death: confirmed but need to be researched.”

From this Sam could conclude two things, they already understood the ability to manipulate fire, but the “phoenix” power was still not understood, after searching for a while he found in the file that Thomas would be sent to a research department to further their understanding of it. Luckily Sam already understood how it worked, inside the dome were scanners too and while Medrano was taking care of him before that, all his vitals had been recorded, this included brain activity.

After pulling up the scanning results he found what he was looking for, when he had died a part of his brain had sent out one specific signal, after it had been sent the body temperature and cell stability had immediately started changing, then he had combusted and somehow regenerated.

It was a reflexive ability, unlike the pyrokinesis that the boy possessed as well, meaning that only upon death (under the condition the brain still could send that signal) Thomas would combust and rise anew.

Medrano too was watching this, she had requested a copy of the info on her pc, unlike Sam, she found working with the hologram screens far too difficult. She was staring intently at all the information and Sam who had known her for some time now knew what she was going to say the moment she opened her mouth again.

“How does this ability work.” Sam said at the same time as Medrano, she looked at him with irritation in her eyes, “what is that not a logical question then?” Sam snickered, “of course it is doctor, but honestly is this truly the time for researching superpowers, these four are wounded.”

“actually only three of them are wounded boss, she retorted, I think phoenix boy is all healed up again, so he should be ready for a…….” “Medrano, Sam said seriously silencing the doctor, please do NOT pick up old habits again before I have to call in psychiatrists to treat the kid.”

The doctor flinched, “I-I have stopped doing such things boss, I no longer experiment on unwilling people.” Sam sighed, “I can’t say that you haven’t major discoveries with your unethical experiments but try to keep it to a minimum alright.” Medrano nodded, “I’ll keep myself in check sir, I wasn’t planning to dissect phoenix boy anyways, too much risk of burning myself.”

Sam gave her a threatening look, he knew she was joking but even after all this time he had never forgotten what she did before joining his organization, he had experienced first-hand that she was a capable researcher, surgeon, and scientist but sometimes she went a bit overboard with her thirst for discovery and knowledge. “Just kidding boss, she said quickly, anyways I don’t need to do such things anymore, I am a changed woman.”

As she walked away towards the four beds Sam hoped that was true, because Medrano’s new obsession with these abilities was terrifying.

;;;;;;;;;;;

Maxwell was sitting at the doctor's desk, he was in the office together with the Hackmeister who had told him to come here and look at some files he had found. He had already suspected what kind of files it would be, about the four youngsters from the container, but when he saw it with his own eyes he felt sick.

After that boy died and then combusted he had almost fainted from the absurdity of it all, he had known about the powered but that people with abilities like that of this boy existed and that they were truly hunted down by the government’s secret organization which he’d been a part of was something that he had not wanted to believe.

Now he believed it though it had all happened right under his nose, he just hadn’t known. But he should have known, at least that’s how he felt about it, he had done missions of all kinds for the government's black ops organization from assassination to protecting cargo and still, he had never asked questions or asked himself about what the meaning was of all this.

These files made him feel even more guilty than that time when he realized what had been inside the container, he had just been the one transporting them, the organization had done much, much more. The files contained information from these kid’s ages to their medical files and friends, from the moment they had been noticed they had been observed, documented, and then caught, except for the girl, apparently, they had found her awakening her abilities on camera footage during a robbery where she almost died, the government had started gathering information and after finding out everything and checking in which hospital she had been placed they had taken her away.

“I see that you start to realize my reasons for operating like this commander, the hackmeister spoke. Maxwell didn’t answer, but he could only agree with the man.

;;;;;;;

Layla’s scanners picked up increased brain activity in patient 1, the AI knew what it meant, she was the med bay AI, after all, she had a vast amount of medical data, the girl whose skin had been hardening since they had started the treatment was awakening!