The room was dark except for the glow of dozens of monitors.
Footage replayed over and over again.
Seven glowing figures standing in the middle of a destroyed street.
Energy blasts.
A creature collapsing.
One screen froze on the moment the girls stood together in the smoke.
A man leaned forward in his chair.
"Zoom in."
The technician tapped a key.
The image sharpened.
Seven silhouettes.
Seven different colors of light.
Behind them, the broken body of the alien scout.
Silence filled the control room.
Then the man spoke again.
"Run the energy analysis."
Numbers flooded the screens.
The technician frowned.
"That's impossible."
"Explain."
"These energy signatures," the technician said slowly, "they're not alien."
The man raised an eyebrow.
"They're human."
A woman in a black uniform crossed her arms.
"So we're looking at enhanced humans."
The technician shook his head.
"No… something else."
He pulled up a second graph.
"Human DNA… mixed with unknown extraterrestrial genetic structures."
The man leaned back in his chair.
"So they're hosts."
The woman nodded slowly.
"Living weapons."
The logo on the wall behind them glowed faintly in blue letters:
Trapply
The man stood up.
"Begin tracking."
"Tracking what exactly?" the technician asked.
The director looked back at the screen.
"Those girls."
Miles away, in the abandoned observatory, Ava sat cross-legged on the floor scrolling through her phone again.
"Still trending," she muttered.
Mira groaned. "Please stop checking."
"I can't help it."
Luna looked up from the window.
"What are they saying now?"
Ava read aloud.
"'Seven Lights save civilians.'"
She scrolled.
"'Unknown glowing monsters attack city.'"
She scrolled again.
"'Alien superheroes confirmed.'"
Riven sighed.
"People believe anything."
Nyra suddenly stiffened.
Her bracelet pulsed once.
Then again.
Riven noticed immediately.
"What is it?"
Nyra's golden eyes narrowed.
"The signal changed."
Everyone froze.
"What signal?" Ava asked.
"The GeneShift network," Nyra said quietly.
Mira frowned.
"You mean the alien system?"
Nyra nodded.
"Something is searching."
A cold feeling ran through the room.
"Searching for what?" Luna asked.
Nyra looked at each of them.
"For us."
Riven's voice hardened.
"Human or alien?"
Nyra hesitated.
"Both."
Far beyond the city lights, on the roof of a half-collapsed tower, someone watched the skyline.
A tall figure stood perfectly still in the shadows.
Armor covered parts of his body like black bone.
A faint red light glowed under his skin.
He held a small device in his hand.
It pulsed with the same energy as the GeneShift bracelets.
The man studied the signal reading.
Seven markers blinked on the screen.
His voice was calm.
"So… the hosts have awakened."
He looked toward the city.
His eyes glowed faintly crimson.
"My name is **Rooder."
The wind howled around the ruined tower.
"And I have finally found you."
He closed the device.
Far away in the observatory, the bracelets of the seven girls suddenly pulsed red.
Riven felt it instantly.
Someone was coming.
And this time…
It wasn't a scout.