Project Menagerie
Synopsis
ISSUE #1
The units of Project Menagerie wake in the dark, pulling themselves from the stasis beds in which they have been catatonic. Due to unit RABBIT's telepathy, each recognizes the others as an ally, knows their unit designation (RHINO, WOLF, RABBIT) and their associated abilities, but nothing more.
After taking a few moments to adjust to the situation, including RABBIT's intense self-loathing, the trio realizes they are not in a room, but in fact in some sort of large container. The door is flung open to reveal two groups of armed men standing outside. Without a moment's pause both groups of men turn their guns on the units. The trio quickly dispatches all but one of the men without sustaining any serious injury. However, they are still left without any knowledge of who they are.
The units immediately begin examining the area they have awoke in and their attackers. The area is marked as 'El Dorado Waste Management Facility'.
Scavenging through the remains of their attackers, the units find a strange dichotomy to the group. One group of men seems uniform, dressed in a somewhat similar fashion. The remainder of the men are not, seemingly having nothing in common other than being dead.
Unseen by the units, HENLEY has escaped. Under orders from SILAS, he was attempting to sell the units after they were ordered decommissioned.
ISSUE #2
The trio heads to the nearest populated area, El Dorado. The city is a rundown municipality on the border. It is kept alive by smuggling drugs and people, as well as illegal dumping by organized crime.
Breaking into a store in a decrepit neighborhood, the units steal some clothes and some much-needed cash. During this break-in, RABBIT deals with her intense self-loathing by deconstructing a mannequin and using the faceplate as a mask. This serves to accentuate her problems for the reader. WOLF begins to experience a flashback, giving us insight into his past, but this distracts him, ultimately resulting in Rhino killing the shopkeeper. Now the units are on the run from whatever mysterious agencies sent the soldiers from the first issue as well as from the police.
After quickly leaving the store, sirens can be heard in the distance. WOLF ushers the other two into a local bar named "Bruce's Promise". Much like the neighborhood the bar has seen better days and is inhabited by a hard crowd. The three almost immediately run into trouble with the locals soliciting the women. The end result is yet another fight in an evening full of them. The issue ends with the units putting down the natives, only to be greeted by the local crime boss, DEVEN.
ISSUE #3
DEVEN is extremely impressed with the units' fighting performance and also recognizes them as being on the run. He offers them a place to hide while the heat cools off. After a time he tells them that they need cash and gear, and he can get them both. For a price.
DEVEN's offer is simple; eliminate the rival cartel (Sinaloa) in El Dorado and he can provide the units with whatever they need. The trio engages in a spirited debate which, among other things, highlights RHINO's emotional detachment. Through this, and actions from the previous issues, it becomes clear that whatever was done to her has severely damaged her empathy and humanity. Eventually, though, the trio agrees to work with DEVEN.
The jobs culminate with the units raiding the Sinaloa's fortified headquarters, an old mission located on the outskirts of El Dorado. Within the walls of the mission, WOLF runs into MANUSCO, a man that recognizes him.
ISSUE #4
WOLF rescues MANUSCO from the chaos and fighting in the mission. After initial problems, RABBIT's telepathy is used to interrogate MANUSCO. Through her, they find that MANUSCO knows WOLF as Kaliq Greaves. The two served together in a Society kick squad. MANUSCO eventually fell into some trouble and has made his living working with the cartels ever since. He expresses surprise to see Kaliq in El Dorado; he was always a by-the-numbers soldier that looked like he was made for management. The last that MANUSCO had heard of Greaves was when he had volunteered for something called Project Menagerie.
The units take MANUSCO back to a safe house provided by DEVEN where they hold him hostage while attempting to validate his claims. RHINO begins accessing information via the net and locates one name that seems pertinent; Kiyoshi KNOX, a leading expert on transhumanism. While he was once a leader in his field, KNOX has since been discredited due to public statements he had made about an unofficial government program that he was recruited into. When about to confront MANUSCO with this information the safe house is raided by Project Menagerie agents. In the exchange, MANUSCO is killed.
ISSUE #5
Pursued by agents, the units make it a priority to locate KNOX. Requisitioning vehicles from DEVEN the three set off into the desert, looking for KNOX's last location. They find that he has become a recluse living on his family's farm in the southwest. Surprised by the automated defenses around his farm, the trio eventually meets KNOX after nearly killing him.
KNOX explains he had been contracted out of his university by the government to work on a human modification project called Project Menagerie. He left when he became aware that the project had gone beyond the theoretical and begun experimenting on men and women. His attempts to alert the press only discredited him.
Eventually, KNOX tells them that Project Menagerie is headed out of a compound named the Zoo. He tells them that he can take them to it, but that no one is ever allowed in. The units assure him that they don't intend on asking permission.
The issue ends with the reveal that the house is being watched by Zoo agents, who have been keeping tabs on KNOX. A trap is laid.
ISSUE #6
KNOX leads the units to The Zoo, which appears to be a huge limestone quarry. Using RABBIT's abilities, the three quickly figure out a way into the facility beneath it. However, they are detected and dozen of agents set upon them. Eventually, the three of them are brought down in an ambush.
WOLF wakes up face-to-face with Colonel NORBERT. The Colonel explains that WOLF is Kaliq Greaves, a special operative agent that volunteered for Project Menagerie. Dr. SILAS, the head of the program, had arranged for the project to be scrapped in the hopes of stealing and then selling the prototypes (with the help of HENLEY) to a Central Asian dictatorship, Kazubekistan. NORBERT remotely activated the units when this was discovered, in the hopes of preventing them from falling into enemy hands. However, the psychotropic drugs that SILAS used to contain the units also suppressed their memories. With this in mind the Zoo had to approach the units as possibly hostile when attempting to bring them back in. At this point, RABBIT comes to and, confronted with the individuals she sees as her tormentors, goes ballistic, unleashing all of her hatred and self-loathing in a telekinetic rampage, killing all project personnel she comes in contact with. She tracks down WOLF, who stops her from killing Colonel NORBERT. She scans the aforementioned information from NORBERT and immediately sets out to find Dr. SILAS, bent on bloody revenge.
