TAKE CONTROL.

several countries had begun to show interest in the kron institute, particularly given the impending collapse of the soviet union and lingering cold war tensions. it was a concept wholly plucked from science fiction, but the proof of concept project peregrine proved worthwhile enough for a coalition to form in order to fund project nascence. government employees were nominated from each of the interested countries to oversee the project, as the kron institute was functionally private. roman and alyona retained their peregrine positions of project director and head of research, while doctor wyatt kennedy continued on as head of medical and doctor elizabeth rosenberg was a newcomer as head of psychology and ethics.

thirteen children comprised project nascence. born all across the world within a five year span of each other, the children were given a number and an epithet in place of a real name. they were raised on site at the kron institute facilities, coming to know the other subjects as siblings. their daily lives were full of trials and tests, treated more like lab rats than people. each of them had a unique ability that was slowly coaxed, honed, and tempered over the nineteen years the project ran for. some were benign, some were deadly.

as the project went on and results were not as fast paced as the board hoped, the subjects underwent combat testing. facing each other in a variety of trials, this was in the hopes of meeting the project's secondary goal. in 2003, one of the american board members retired and was replaced by alexander holbrook, joining edith 'edie' crawford who had been part of the board since day 1. holbrook took an immediate interest to the combat training and began to collate his own notes on the subjects. number thirteen was eventually removed from testing and kept on hand as their powers proved uniquely suitable to aid in case of a subject becoming out of control.

towards the late 2000s, a number of factors rapidly coalesced that indicated the project was beginning to lose momentum. no meaningful gains had been made, plus all the subjects had reached adulthood and increasingly unlikely to comply further. with the great recession and government spending on bailouts, the board (operating on instructions from their governments) were hesitant to burn more money on the project. sentiment towards project nascence with the financiers had soured as their attention turned towards better things. when he realised the writing was on the wall, roman started taking precautions within the kron institute, mainly behind the board's back. he would soon disappear off the face of the earth.

on february 24th, 2009, the board approved a final round of funding that gave the project nine months left and a memorandum issued that project nascence would remain fully classified once it was defunct. the meaning was clear: by november 24th, everything needed to be packed up and finalised. anything left over would be scorched earth. edie, along with a few other board members, took the lead on developing integration plans for all of the subjects so they could join regular society. they were given names for the first times, families and histories to practice and memorise. they were given strict instruction that their powers were not to be used once the project was over, else they would lose their freedom. permanently.

close to the defunct date, holbrook enlisted the aid of wyatt regarding a particular loose end. zoé elderslie was a researcher who joined the kron institute on a student placement, and had repeatedly expressed concerns about the treatment and ethics. holbook had a suspicion she would not keep her mouth shut after all was said and done. on zoé's final day with the institute, wyatt brought her to number thirteen and told them to kill her. thirteen promptly cut off the blood flow to her brain, quickly leading to death. holbrook was satisfied with both the loose lips being dealt with and thirteen's display of their powers.

close to midnight on november 23rd, in blisteringly windy and snowy conditions, the thirteen subjects of project nascence trudged out of the kron institute's building towards a private plane flanked by NATO soldiers. they had not had the chance to properly say goodbye to alyona or wyatt or elizabeth, nor any of the other staff who effectively raised them. nobody would look them in the eye as they all shuffle onto the plane to their new (and only) lives. as the plane lifted off, a group approached the building with flamethrowers. there was nothing but ash when the sun dawned on november 24th.