Omni

***Omni*** is a 1996 Canadian-American animated science fiction film written & directed by Victor Yearts. The film follows a teenager who is taken in by the government when they mysteriously gain psychic powers after a car accident.

## Plot

Sienna Mildren is an ordinary teenager living in the small town of Ferro, New Orleans. It's a town like Sienna, regular and unassuming. Sienna is spending her day walking through the city, looking to go to a local record store to meet up with her friends. As she walks to her destination, she bumps into a middle aged man, the man proceeds to get quite mad at her, she apologizes, but the man has no forgiveness.

Now going to the store with shame that won't leave her alone, she makes it to her destination. She enters the store, but her friends aren't there. She goes to the store manager to ask where they've seen her friends, apparently they were kicked out for breaking a record, albeit accidentally, according to the manager. She leaves the store, bummed out with what has happened.

Meanwhile, a young girl runs through the city, in the background, people in suits run after her. The suits lose her for now. Back to Sienna, she waits at traffic lights, at this very moment, the young girl and Sienna cross paths. The girl runs into traffic just as a car is about to come in. Sienna, given a split second decision, runs into the traffic to attempt to save the girl.

As she walks into oncoming traffic, Sienna gets to the girl and picks her up, but as she tries to get onto the sidewalk, the car hits the two. Upon impact, we go into Sienna's mind, she looks around, she is now in a white environment, the girl is still in her hands, but she isn't responsive. Realizing the girl has died, Sienna doesn't know how to react. While she tries to comprehend this, the young girl disappears in her arms. Now bewildered, she goes into a sudden state of shock, looking up in a paralyzed pose.

She then wakes up. She's in the hospital, her room is quite empty, with only a television on the wall on standby. With an oxygen mask on, she takes it off and gets out of her bed, taking her IV stand with her, she looks out the window, the sun is going down. She walks over to the door on the opposite side of the room, it's locked. She walks over to the television to turn it on, it does, but all that displays is static.

Somewhere else, we cut to two people at waist level, someone who seems to be a professor, and who seems to be a hospital employee. The professor is Wallace Gordon, a man who works at a government facility for a certain type of people. The two talk about Sienna, Wallace asks the employee to mark her as deceased. Confused, the hospital employee asks why he should do this, according to Wallace, Sienna is "special but unpredictable". He then orders that Sienna be given a close casket funeral without her knowledge.

Sienna lays down in the hospital bed, the static of the television playing peacefully in the background. Finally, someone unlocks the door, it's the same worker who spoke with Wallace, Sienna immediately springs up at the sight of another person. The hospital worker approaches her and asks how she's doing. Sienna feels quite stable. Just outside the room, Wallace listens to their conversation. The hospital worker asks Sienna if she'd like some food, she accepts the offer. A while later, they arrive with a plate of said food, however it's been spiked with crushed up sleeping pills. Sienna gorges on what she's been given. A while after she falls asleep, she is discharged from hospital.

Eventually, Sienna wakes up, she is on a bed in a small grey painted cell. Looking around, the only other thing in here is a toilet. Looking at herself, she sees that there is words in the form of scars on her arm. It spells out **OMNI-138**. Sienna sees a large metal door, it has no handle, but does have a small window. Looking out the window, she sees a hallway with similar cells. She starts banging on her door, calling our for anyone that may just be nearby. She's calls as hard as she can, but no one cares to do anything, even the ones that could be in the cells.

Miffed, she sits on the bed, anger slowly starting to build inside. In one last attempt to get attention, she bangs her hands on the door. But she immediately winces in pain from the force of the blow. Now with her anger peaked, she screams out. While this happens, the pillow on her bed shreds into pieces with a loud bang. Sienna turns around, startled. She looks at the remains of the pillow, not knowing what to make of it. She looks back out the window, and sees someone, another teenager, kinda similar to her.

In another part of the building, we are brought into an office, Wallace is there, along with a woman, this woman is Wallace's superior. His superior is reading a file on Sienna. In the middle of reading, she asks Wallace if Sienna has been informed of her new abilities. When told that she hasn't, the superior says to write her a letter informing her of what has happened, since at this point she may start developing her powers and as a result, will be quite hostile towards Wallace.

He gets away at a typewriter in his own office, tapping away at keys detailing what has happened to Sienna. While he's at it, he starts hearing footsteps, he gets off his chair. He walks out to look around the hallway, and sees the teenager that Sienna saw earlier. She happens to be walking by a cell for a highly classified individual in this facility, Wallace asks what she is doing here, saying she should be with the "others". This teenager, who happens to be named Cat, sarcastically answers that she's just walking around. Unimpressed, Wallace orders her to go back to the other people she was grouped up with. She just stays there to aggravate him., this works, as Wallace yells at her to go, satisfied, Cat runs off.

Wallace gets into his office and picks up his phone, he calls his superior to inform them about Cat, he says that she might of been trying to get in contact with OMNI-045, the superior says that she'll ask Cat about it. Wallace later gets his letter to Sienna finished, and heads off to her cell to slip it under the door. He gets to the cell, but he starts to think if he really should only give her a letter, considering how much this could affect her. Wanting to the right thing, he tears up his letter and knocks on the cell door.

A now sleeping Sienna awakes, and looks at the door, she asks who's there, Wallace introduces himself, adding that he'll be opening the door for her, he takes out a keycard and places it on a sensor on the door, it opens, and the two are now face to face. He takes a seat next to her, he once again introduces himself and begins to inform her of where she has arrived. We are at the Chestnut Research Facility, a facility that specializes in people that Wallace refers to as "Omnis". They are a small group of people who possess great psychic ability, being able to do things that the average person couldn't, at this moment, Wallace notices the shredded remains of Sienna's pillow. He points that out as a small example of what Omnis can do. He ends the conversation off saying they'll be doing some experiments on her later, nothing harmful, but just experiments with her developing abilities.

At the superior's office, Cat is sitting in front of her. The superior asks her about OMNI-045 and if she has been trying to get in contact with them. Cat asks why she seems to treat this Omni with a lot more attention then the others. The superior calmly explains that this Omni is very dangerous and unpredictable. Cat explodes at the superior for saying this, saying that they're like that because they're kept in a cell all the time. The superior stays silent for a moment, shortly after she asks Cat to leave, telling her that anger won't solve anything.

Cat leaves, and we are shown her walking into a room, this is the room, she sleeps in each night. In it, other people are seen, sleeping on hammocks, one is empty, reserved just for Cat.

Back to Sienna, she's with Wallace in a small room, being present with three objects, a glass jar, a fork and a block of cheese. She's has been hooked up to a machine that according to Wallace, is tracking her brain waves. This is one of the experiments that Wallace had been planning to do. He points at the jar and instructs Sienna to do something to it, she asks how, and Wallace tells her to find her own way to do it. Sienna puts some focus on the jar, she puts some time into it, and then, something happens. As the machine's readings become more intense, the table starts to shake, and then she starts to shake. With no warning, the jar shatters into pieces, the fork is recoiled and the cheese has exploded into melted, gooey pieces. Sienna is heavily worn out from this experience.

Wallace immediately goes to his superior with Sienna's readings. Sienna is one of the most powerful Omnis that he has ever seen. However, his superior is anything but happy about this. She's concerned that Sienna may escape the facility and potentially cause catastrophic events similar to the ones that led to the creation of the research facility altogether. Wallace is taken aback by this, he's found Sienna to be quite a pleasant person from what he's seen, he then suggests that his superior should meet her. The superior refuses.

Now in his office, Wallace tries to think about a way to try and convince the superior that Sienna isn't a threat. With no real ideas coming to mind, he goes for the only option he has. He goes to Sienna's cell and opens it, he wakes a sleeping Sienna and drags her out of her cell, half awake, Sienna asks where Wallace is bringing her, he says he's bringing her to the one who runs the entire facility, while they're making their way to the superior's office, Cat comes out of a room with an elderly man she has been helping. Wallace and Cat crash into each other, the two fall to the ground, with Wallace letting go of Sienna.

Wallace quickly gets to his senses and gets angry at Cat, pointing and shouting at her for what she's done. As he shouts, Cat gets a look at Sienna, noticing the Omni marking on her arm. Wallace picks Sienna up and brings her with him. With Cat and the elderly man alone, they walk away. The elderly man asks about who Wallace had with her. Cat tells him it's an Omni.

Wallace and Sienna get to the Superior's office, just outside the room, Wallace tells her that this is his boss, and that she should be calm and reserved when talking to her. They enter the office. The superior is seen with a small box, looking into it. Upon the two entering the room, she closes the box and puts it aside. Seeing Sienna for the first time, she asks who Sienna is. Wallace says it's OMNI-138, to which the superior eyebrows raise, the first time we see her in such a state. She tries her best to become calm however, and asks Sienna to take a seat. She does so, and there's silence. Sienna becomes the first to speak, asking if she's the one who runs this place. The superior confirms this.

Some more silence later, she asks why she was brought here. With a moment of thinking, the superior says that Sienna is here because she's "special", with only 137 other people like her in the facility. A rather unsatisfactory answer. Then Sienna asks the question that's been on her mind since she woke up in her cell. What did her parents feel about this?

The superior says they signed paperwork, agreeing that she'd be taken into the facility for some time for studying and experimenting. Sienna doesn't believe this. She quickly starts to get angry, she knows something is up. The superior asks her to stop. Sienna continues, she steps up and grasps the the superior's desk, anger building up. Then, things on the desk start to break, a mug, a pen. But it stops, as Sienna starts tearing up, droplets falling on the desk, she lets go and looks away from the superior. The superior tells Sienna to keep her emotions in check, adding it won't get her anywhere, referring to her as 138.

This instantly brings her back to how she was just a moment ago, looking back and screaming at her to not call her that. With this, the remains of the mug and pen lunge themselves at the Superior, the superior calls for Wallace to stop Sienna. With no choice, Wallace runs to the desk and opens it, grabbing out a syringe and sedative, as Sienna jumps on the desk ready to attack the superior, Wallace plunges the syringe into Sienna's neck, she stops at this exact moment, standing still, just before collapsing on the desk. The superior asks Wallace to get her out. A while later, Wallace come into his office and gets on the phone, he calls someone, upon answering, he talks to the caller about plans they have for the facility tomorrow.

Later, Sienna wakes up in her cell, with a taped cotton ball on her neck. She instantly becomes agitated, the anger from meeting the superior hasn't left. She looks up at the door window, and tries to break it using her abilities, it cracks, and Sienna gets the broken glass out of the hole, but then it hits her, the hole is too small to fit her. She sits back on her bed, upset.

The next day, the person Wallace called comes over to the facility. They are Herman, a worker who has returned from a different state after a family emergency, the two are happy to see eachother, Herman asks about the Omnis, Wallace mentions Sienna, along with how he was trying to make the superior more passive to the Omnis, Herman adds that the superior never seemed to like them. Wallace then mentions the plan for trying to "socialize" OMNI-045 with other people.

The two go to 045's cell, Wallace grabs his keycard and puts it on the door sensor, the door opens and we're finally revealed OMNI-045. They're a young boy, looks about only 7 years old, he looks up at the two professors, not looking particularly happy. Herman comes into the cell, and leans down to talk to 045. He asks the boy how he's doing. The boy doesn't want to respond. Herman tries to push him a little bit. Then the boys asks, will he finally be with his sister? Herman doesn't know exactly how to respond, he tries his best by saying if he behaves he'll see her again. 045 is very unhappy with this, and then suddenly, he starts using his own abilities on Herman.

Using them, he starts to physically distort and deform his face and skull, with bones becoming thicker and jagged, Wallace tries to pull Herman away from the boy, but he telepathically pushes him away. Herman falls to the ground, screaming in pain as the boy keeps on deforming him. Wallace gets to the cell door and slams it shut, stopping the boy from doing any further harm.

Later in the superior's office, she details what has happened to Herman, deformed skull, which ended up crushing his eyes leading to blindness, slurred speech and can only breath with an oxygen mask on, she then asks him, why? Wallace only wanted to help OMNI-045, he wanted to try and get him out of his cell, to explore, to meet new people and most importantly, potentially live as a normal person. The superior tells him he can meet Herman at the facility's emergency room.

Upon arriving there, he checks up on Herman, upon seeing him, he's taken aback. The man he was friends with has become unrecognizable. Wallace tries his best to ask how he's doing. Herman, trying his best to conjure up any words, comes back with a slurred sentence, he wants Wallace to kill the boy. Wallace says he can't do that, as his job doesn't allow it. Herman says it again, with this being too much to bare, Wallace storms out of the emergency room. He returns to his office, being left alone with his own thoughts and emotions, standing there for a moment, he lets out all his rage as he starts to trash his own office in anger, constantly demeaning himself and calling himself a stupid man, with the office now trashed, he looks around at it, and slowly begins to sob to himself.

Later that night, Cat goes to Wallace's office well after he left the facility. She gets to the door and pulls out two paperclips, she pulls them apart and attempts to lockpick the door. As she does however, she starts to hear footsteps, the ones of a security guard. Now with a time limit on her, she rushes herself, just as the guard gets into range to see her, she successfully opens the door and immediately enters. Inside Wallace's office, she goes to the desk in here, she looks through it and finds what she's looking for, the keypad used for opening the cell doors.

She runs through the halls of the facility, making her way to the hall of cells where Sienna is located at. Cat looks through the cells, she tries to remember Sienna's Omni marking. She looks at the numbered cells, looking inside the windows, but she can't find Sienna. Then she see's the broken window at Sienna's cell. She approaches it, the number seems to match what she remembers. She puts the keycard on the sensor, and it opens. Inside, Sienna is sleeping soundly. Cat leans down and slightly pushes Sienna a little bit, waking her up. She jolts up, a bit startled at the sight of Cat. She asks who she is. Cat tells her she's the one her and Wallace bumped into the other day.

Then Sienna asks why this seemingly random person would decide to see her. Cat just happened to have a feeling about her, a feeling she wasn't like the other Omnis at the facility. She was perfectly awake when Wallace brought her to the superior, whilst other Omnis are knocked out when being brought somewhere else in the building. Sienna asks how she's knows this, along with asking if she works at the facility. Cat doesn't work at the facility, saying she's just being held here. Sienna wants to know why. Cat pulls back the sleeve of her hoodie and we're revealed that she is also an Omni, OMNI-044 to be exact. She adds that she's just had technology implanted in her brain that practically disables her abilities.

Silence fills the cell, Sienna breaks the silence asking what they should do now. Cat decides they should explore the facility together now that they have the chance. Leaving the cell, the two start exploring the deeper parts of the facility. Cat brings Sienna to the room she sleeps in, when the other people see Sienna, they ask if they've gotten a new member of their so called "lobotomy club", they're told that Sienna is a newly acquired Omni, to which one of the people warns Cat of the consequences of being caught, which could potentially be having her ability disabling tech removed. Cat doesn't think they'll do it, considering the high death rate for those types of surgeries.

The two leave, and get back to exploring, Sienna asks how this place came to be built. Cat explains the backstory, a man who had similar powers escaped government care and caused havoc in the area, until he was taken down by his twin brother, who had no knowledge of his powers until this happened. After this transpired, the Chestnut Research Facility was built as a place to research people with psychic powers. But it quickly became a place more akin to a prison, as the facility was run by an Omni, and they had a distrust in any others that would brought in. Sienna asks if the Omni still works here, and Cat confirms this. Sienna stops, asking Cat if the Omni is the superior she was talking to just the other night.

The superior is indeed. OMNI-002, Cat adds that OMNI-001 was the surviving twin, but he managed to escape the facility successfully, a thing Cat wants to do herself someday. Then she says that OMNI-002 keeps the remains of the twin that died, as she was his caretaker when he was still in government care.

***More coming soon!***