While the Rockborn Gang tries to outmaneuver a new supervillain created by meteorite shrapnel, Malik investigates the Dark Watchers and the possibility that their reality is advanced, elaborate simulation.

Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine. But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she's finally gained the control she's always sought, and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She'll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale...

Dahlia Ember Perkins, a MetaHuman who has the ability to absorb heat and extinguish fires, helps the police investigate a strange case involving discarded human skins and uncovers a connection to the crimes buried deep in her past.