Season One Episode 9: The Octet's Bane

## Synopsis for "The Octet's Bane"

### Liam

Entering a secret entrance at G.I.L.T., Liam is in his secret subornation laboratory on level nine, shrouded in various levels of secrecy, having arrived via a hidden elevator behind a hidden door in the wall that connects G.I.L.T. with his secret lab. There he is downloading and looking at files. He then makes a call to an old friend.

### Penthouse Raid

Joey and Nick are staking out the penthouse of Lonnie Cortez in the middle of the city, led by the information they have gathered. The team agrees to make their move at nightfall.

Later, in a motel room, where they seek to be hiding due to their house being exposed to the Octet, Nick and Kaliyah discuss the plan with the rest of the team. Kaliyah and Scarlette are standing over the table, Nick is standing over the table with his arms crossed, Joey is leaning against the wall, Ayo is sitting against Kimbrianna's desk, and Kimbrianna is sitting in the chair at the desk while leaning in the chair. For this mission, it'll be Joey and Ayo on the inside, with Butterfly as the lookout. Joey didn't think he'd be going and claims he only did the stake out with Nick because it did not require his abilities or combat. Nick suggests that he and Ayo go because, excluding himself and Kimbrianna, Joey and Ayo are the only unknown faces, making it easier for them to enter without being recognized by the enemy. And although Nick insists, he is not forcing, giving Joey a choice. Then, Joey reluctantly agrees to assist and when Joey asks about Project S.A.D., Nick explains that there is nothing to worry about since he has been non-existent.

As Joey, Ayo and Kaliyah go, Kimbrianna is disappointed that she was unable to assist with the mission and feels useless. She adds that even if Kaliyah is as powerless as she is, she still gets to go. Nick attempts to talk her down, but is put off.

There, Butterfly examines the Penthouse with hacked cameras, while Joey, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jogger jeans over his liquid bodysuit, and Ayo, dressed a little bit more professionally with a gray turtleneck and black jeans, approach the front door of the building while Butterfly uses her abilities to distract the guards. Then, while Ayo is inside and apart from Joey, he overhears Octet members discussing plans for the city. However, he is distracted by a partygoer, and by the time he turns back around, the Octet member is gone.

Following Butterfly's instructions, Joey ascends to the penthouse and sneaks into Lonnie's office, but is immediately captured by a security camera. Joey uses the computer while grabbing the side of his neck and muttering in pain due to his ear problems, which are causing him a headache and shoulder pain due to the loud music in the club. Butterfly deals with technical difficulties. Joey doesn't get what he needs from Lonnie's penthouse, he leaves, only to be followed and misdirected to a small garage adjacent to the building, where he attempts to determine what to do next until the door is opened to reveal Adrian.

Ayo is informed by Butterfly that the system has been taken back and Joey may be in trouble. She then descends the building she is in in an effort to find Joey.

Joey makes an attempt to push Adrian out the window, but Adrian seizes Joey and slams him against the desk before throwing him off. Joey dodges a punch from Adrian and then strikes him twice in the side of the ribs and three times in the face. It does nothing! Adrian then punches Joey, knocking him to the ground. Joey slowly rises and he begins walking away, dizzy and unable to maintain his balance. Adrian approaches Joey and grabs his shoulder, turning him around and delivers three powerful punches to the stomach. Even though Joey braced for the impact, increasing his density, he still vomits a more fluid blood, as Joey's blood is not as thick as normal human blood. Joey falls to the ground, holds himself up in pushup position, and then collapses onto his back, exhausted. Adrian leaves him there as Joey pulls himself up against the wall, but as Adrian walks away, L.U.C.I. arrives and breaks up the fight.

Adrian lets go and raises his hands, knowing that they can harm him with advanced weapons, despite his durability. Joey stands up and turns around, revealing his face to the agents.

Later, outside, the remainder of Monica's crew arrest Adrian while she and Joey talk. They also arrest Lonnie Cortez for aiding, abetting and concealing Adrian from the police and agency, however his Octet actions are unknown of. Monica questions Joey about what happened; however, she is unable to obtain answers that will aid her investigation of the Octet, so she gives Joey her phone number in the event that he ever has information to share.

### Liam's Recruits

Meanwhile that same night, Liam is seated outside at a restaurant table, where he tries to recruit his closest friends of his milita's ex-Delta Force operations, to help him with his mission to capture Joey under the pretense of working for the government: Matt Jones, a power hungry gangster; Lucas Carter; and Benjamin White, an old assassin who is currently a mechanic looking for redemption. Matt was easy to convince, as he wants the same thing: Powers. Liam manages to convince the others to help him, offering Benjamin a clean slate, having his criminal record expunged and gambling debts paid; and offering Lucas money, since a result of his failure to capture Joey and the disbanding of the Militia, Lucas struggled to find employment and now blames Joey and the other Altered who escaped the facility. He can also receive payment from Liam for his assistance. During their meeting, Liam refers to his team as the "Mortals Superior", claiming to be superior to Joey and his friends, whom he refers to as the "Mortals", activating "Operation: Immortal Menace", and expressing his determination and promise to prove that Joey is not immortal; that if he can't have this power, then neither can Joey and that Joey being evaporated is similar to sending him to jail, knowing he'll return, since he's unlikely to be killed in the near future; and if Joey's friends are the same and stand in his way, then he'll destroy them as well.

### Nick, Kaliyah, Scarlette, Kimbrianna and Joey in hiding

The next day, late afternoon, getting together, after Joey has finally awakened and the others have gotten out of school, they, including Ayo and Scarlette, converse and laugh as friends and then brainstorm what to do and how to find the Octet without the help of Drakaina. They discuss the locations of buildings Kimbrianna discovered based on Nick's hunch and will investigate these locations later. Kaliyah asserts that she can do it now, with their new drones, because raiding the locations would require more time and that this will provide them with more planning advantages. Ayo agrees and Nick approves, but they must return to Nick's house in order to retrieve the drones from the base. However, he suggests it should be himself, Kimbrianna, Joey, or Ayo, since no one knows their identities or Ayo's as White Shadow. He and Ayo are ultimately the ones to go.

### Ethan running an operation, setting up the place for The Woman in Black and The White Blur

Meanwhile, Ethan, Wildbrig, Revnnon; and Cleaver's henchmen, who Cleaver distributed powers to, are overlooking an operation at a warehouse network cache, and behind it is a body of water and underground tunnel sewers. With loss of possession of several warehouses throughout the city, they set up an outpost here, to find White Blur and The Woman in Black, waiting for them to come to them. They stand by most of the operation, watching and waiting, overseeing the campaign to stop White Blur and The Woman in Black in their own personal war. They also talk about what's happened with Lonnie.

### Spying on Locations

Back at the motel around evening time, Joey, Scarlette, Kaliyah and Kimbrianna wait for Ayo and Nick to return with the drones from the house and food. When they arrive, they pass out the fast food and everyone eats. When Nick and Kaliyah are finished, they begin working on the drone to fly it over the predetermined locations and send the drone away, before going back in and watching the camera feed from the drone on the computer. Ethan and the others are spotted using Kaliyah's new drone to survey the locations they've acquired. Then, they will scan the faces and learn their identities, but public record shows that they have committed no crimes. Fortunately, Ethan can be cross-referenced with what they've exposed in the past and how he's connected to the companies. With Revnnon on the other hand, they discover her history as a hired mercenary.

### The Octet's Wait

Hours go by while Ethan is sitting in the office area similar to an RV, relaxing while waiting confidently, while Wildbrig is outside supervising. Revnnon, outside the office, is observing from a walkway above Wildbrig, who is supervising. While all waiting, Revnnon detects a drone and then looks at it from afar. On the opposite end, Kaliyah and the Mortals are looking back at her. Revnnon shuts down the drone with her ability to control technology, annoying Kaliyah.

After Kaliyah notices that it's Revnnon, Nick and the Mortals disregard the other locations and begin planning for the location with Revnnon, believing that this is their best opportunity to find her, as they may not be able to find her later, given that they know her current location.

### Trusting L.U.C.I.

Monica, who is at L.U.C.I. headquarters, receives a call from Joey. After conversing and hanging up with Joey, she informs her supervisor and team about the situation.

### L.U.C.I. and the Octet

L.U.C.I. investigates the location, and Cleaver's men are able to convince them that it is their regular workplace. As they leave, Cleaver informs the others that nothing changes, and that White Blur and his team may decide to come on their own, knowing L.U.C.I. did nothing.

### Forced Decisions

Monica later calls the Mortals back and informs them that nothing suspicious was going on, much to their disappointment. After hanging up, the Mortals decide to handle the situation themselves and investigate the location more.

### The Mortals and Octet Confrontation

That evening, right before dark, Nick drops off Butterfly, White Shadow and Tenebris at a construction site, where Nick will wait in the parked vehicle. In addition, L.U.C.I. is there after receiving a call of suspicious activity, and they stakeout and wait for something to happen, knowing they've already been here before. Butterfly, White Shadow and Tenebris observe Cleaver's henchmen, as they gather more information on the site for additional tactics, but they don't see Wildbrig or Revnnon like they did on the camera feed earlier. In addition, they observe multiple entrances, including a footbridge, a vantage point and a gate on the far left. Once they have examined all of the potential entrances, they wait and observe the area to ensure they haven't missed anything. They never see Ethan, Wildbrig or Revnnon, but they decide to go inside since they're already there.

They return to street level and begin the mission to infiltrate the compound, sticking together in case they encounter any Octet members. They sneak inside, passing the guards, but immediately thereafter, they are ambushed, as White Shadow is caught off guard when Wildbrig blows a massive hole in the door and then walks right in; a breach. Wildbrig then recognizes White Shadow and fires at him, but White Shadow manages to find cover. As Tenebris and Butterfly attempt to help, Ethan and Revnnon show up. The unexpected attack separates the three of them so that their respective foes can engage them personally: Wildbrig vs White Shadow, Revnnon vs Butterfly, and Ethan vs Tenebris (The Woman in Black).

Wildbrig takes on White Shadow, who grabs one of his swords, before the two engage in a standoff. Wildbrig swings while White Shadow ducks beneath. White Shadow moves to the side as Wildbrig executes an overhead cut with his sword. The two clash their swords and hold them in place by pushing against one another before Wildbrig punches White Shadow. As the fearsome fight erupts, Wildbrig manages to remove a sword from White Shadow's grasp and then fires a powerful and devastating energy burst that White Shadow narrowly avoids by ducking with his speed, while the floor is destroyed by the attack.

This gets L.U.C.I.'s attention.

Meanwhile, Tenebris attempts to deliver a devastating punch to Ethan's abdomen, but a small shockwave is generated and he remains standing, almost unaffected by the blow due to his natural resilience, his armor and defensive aura. Ethan and Tenebris continue to engage in combat, with no effect on one another due to their indestructible resilience. Ethan then gets a hold of Tenebris' scepter and holds it against her, but she pushes it away and moves under his arm, causing him to stumble forward. She then uses her matter manipulation link to the scepter to make it vanish. Ethan tries to attack, but she deflects his arm away before he could even touch her. She then punches him in the face. As he stumbles, she conjures her scepter before scratching his eye with it. As the battle is finished, Tenebris goes to find the others as Ethan lies on the ground holding his hand over his right eye in pain.

While Wildbrig engages in combat with White Shadow, White Shadow evades his shots. Frustrated, Wildbrig then unleashes a powerful blast around them, causing massive destruction and sustaining severe injuries himself. White Shadow then punches him in the face and pins Wildbrig against a wall with his two short swords, stabbing him and easily defeating his opponent. Fortunately for Wildbrig, he will live.

Revnnon attacks Butterfly with a massive ergokinetic attack. Butterfly takes notice that Revnnon's power is enormous. Butterfly gets up after absorbing the hit she just took and quickly healing from it, much to her own surprise. Revnnon walks to Butterfly and shows superior fighting skills before getting behind her and absorbing some of her energy, knocking her unconscious before retreating.

Tenebris finds Butterfly sitting exhausted on the ground without Revnnon, and Tenebris assists her in moving, helping her to her feet as they begin walking. It is said that Butterfly physically defeated Revnnon, but believes that Revnnon drained some of her energy in the end. As they leave, L.U.C.I. agents storm the area, as they have been waiting for the fighting to stop. They only discover Ethan, arresting him.

Wildbrig manages to remove the destruction he caused and leaves the area before he can be spotted by L.U.C.I..

### Secrets

Later, Nick examines Kaliyah and states that she only needs to eat, drink and sleep: the same basic daily routine. Joey is on the phone with a thankful Monica. Monica then begins to trust them because their information has been valid recently. She then informs him that the L.U.C.I. will investigate Ethan Robinson and Lonnie Cortez, and let him and the Mortals know what they find. After getting off the phone with her, Ayo is healthy and returns home, Scarlette returns home and is greeted by her dog Plex, Joey is watching television, and Nick is sleeping. Kaliyah and Kimbrianna also sleep in the next-door motel room, but while everyone else is asleep, Kimbrianna gets up to do her own thing; she has recently been working on or obtaining a pill-based drug.

### Wildbrig

Meanwhile, Wildbrig's accelerated healing abilities are hindered by White Shadow's swords, resulting in a sluggish recovery. Cleaver pays him a visit and has a brief discussion with him about what to do next: spend the next couple of years growing ever stronger; and gathering data as part of their insanely over-complicated half plan to solve their own energy problems with ores that are designed to alter a property of existence, developing what some might call "superpowers", which would help them amass an army to assist the Octet in their cause.

### Revnnon's New Power

At the same time, Revnnon, who is bruised up, is intrigued by the new power she absorbed from Kaliyah. Though it has never been seen before, even by Kaliyah, Revnnon somehow obtained it from her, which is odd to her, because she doesn't usually take powers from others when using her absorption abilities.

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