The soft hum of the city’s early morning routine drifted through Daisy Carter’s apartment, the familiar rhythm pulling her from the last vestiges of sleep. She blinked against the pale sunlight filtering through the blinds, her body already moving on autopilot. Mornings were always the same—predictable, structured, and meticulously timed, just the way she liked them.

  She stretched, feeling the satisfying pull of muscles waking up, before swinging her legs out of bed and plating her feet on the cool wooden floor. Her alarm hadn’t even gone off yet, but she rarely needed it these days. Her mind was always ahead, already organizing the day’s tasks. There was a brief moment of stillness before the mental to-do list kicked in.

  A scientist for NovaTech Labs—the largest powers research facility in the world—Daisy’s life was a series of calculated steps, each one including closer to answers the world was still grasping at. Four years after The Wave, when everyone at least over sixteen had suddenly been gifted—no, burdened—with superpowers, places like NovaTech had become more important than ever. People wanted explanations, solutions, control over what had once been impossible. And Daisy was one of the few tasked with figuring it all out.

  Her routine started in the kitchen. Coffee brewed in the background as she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing her teeth. Her eyes flickered to her reflection, the faint dark circles beneath her eyes a testament to the late nights spent at the lab. But it didn’t matter. Her work was important. Necessary.

  She splashed cold water on her face, reaching for the towel as her mind wandered to the latest round of research. They were so close to a breakthrough—mapping out which genetic markers influenced certain powers. It was the kind of project that kept her up late, too absorbed in the data to notice time slipping by. Today, she’d be back in the lab, dissecting more results, getting closer.

  As she moved through her morning, the muted buzz of the TV filled the silence of her apartment. She never really watched it, but she liked having it on in the background—a small thread of noise to keep her grounded. The news channel flickered on, the anchor’s voice just loud enough to register.

  “—incident on the Havenbridge yesterday. An unregistered vigilante clashed with registered hero Ironclad while attempting to engage in unauthorized crime prevention activities…”

  Daisy barely glanced at the screen as she finished pulling on her lab coat. Another vigilante story. The city was always talking about those people—fools who thought they could play hero without going through the proper channels. There was a system in place for a reason, laws meant to keep everything in check after The Wave. People like that? They were reckless, dangerous even.

  She stepped closer to the TV for a brief moment, watching the shaky phone footage of the fight from the night before. It showed a masked figure—a blur of movement that flickered in and out of view, slipping between the support beams of the bridge as Ironclad pursued him. The anchor droned on about the dangers of unregulated powers and the importance of the Hero Registration Act.

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  Daisy sighed, reaching for her coffee cup. These vigilantes never seemed to get it. There are rules for a reason. Powers needed to be regulated. Managed. The last thing they needed was people running around with abilities they couldn’t control. That’s what the lab was for—to help people understand their powers, to make sure they didn’t become a threat to themselves or anyone else. Yet, there were still those out there who thought they were above it all.

  Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at the screen. A message from her supervisor, Dr. Levin, reminding her about the morning meeting. Daisy tucked her phone into her pocket, her attention already shifting from the news report to the tasks ahead. She didn’t have time to worry about vigilantes or what happened on the bridge yesterday. There were more important things to focus on—data to analyze, results to interpret.

  Daisy turned the TV off, silencing the news anchor mid-sentence as they speculated on whether this latest vigilante would be apprehended. She didn’t care. People like him were an anomaly, a blip in the grander scheme of things. What mattered was finding the answers in the lab—understanding the science behind the chaos The Wave had unleashed.

  As a scientist, Daisy had no time for the moral debates surrounding vigilantes or the headlines that sensationalized their exploits. Her focus was on the hard data: the DNA sequences, the biological markers, the equations that explained why some people could manipulate fire or move objects with a thought, while others possessed abilities far more dangerous. Understanding that framework—how powers manifested, how they could be regulated—was the key to preventing future disasters. That was the kind of work that changed the world, not some masked figure playing hero in the streets.

  She moved through her apartment with a practiced efficiency, grabbing her ID badge and slipping it into her bag as her mind began organizing the day ahead. There was a meeting first thing, followed by hours of data analysis. She and the team were close to identifying several critical markers that could revolutionize how powers were classified. If they succeeded, it could mean new guidelines for how abilities were trained, managed, and even neutralized if necessary.

  In the world of research, there were no shortcuts—just methodical progress toward understanding. While the public clamored for answers, demanding more control over the extraordinary powers that had erupted in everyday life, Daisy knew the solution wouldn’t come from politics or public outcry. It would come from science, from meticulous study and careful experimentation.

  Her gaze flicked to the stack of files she’d been reviewing late into the night. Each page detailed case studies, tracking the development of powers in individuals from all walks of life. There were patterns, emerging trends, subtle clues hidden within the overwhelming complexity of human genetics. If they could pinpoint how certain powers evolved, they could shape the future of power regulation—no more uncertainty, no more fear of the unknown. Control, precision, safety.

  Daisy slung her bag over her shoulder, locking her apartment door behind her as she left. The world outside might be fixated on vigilantes and their unpredictable actions, but her path was clear. The work she did in that lab was where real change happened, where progress was measured not in headlines but in breakthroughs. Every discovery, no matter how small, brought them closer to mastering the volatile new reality humanity found itself in.

  She walked down the hallway, her footsteps echoing in the quiet building. The sun was rising, casting a pale light over the city. Daisy didn’t glance up. Her mind was already at the lab, buried in formulas and data points, where the real work began.