The attack on The Grand Hotel turned out to be the spark that unleashed a media shit-show.

The network hadn't had a chance to pivot to the new reality show, and the "mass eruption" of so many metas all at once suddenly made this handful of folks the number one news interest for weeks.

Marion St James, former supermodel and the face/producer of the "Supermodel Shakedown" was taken prisoner.   Doctor Snow was in critical condition, being slowly thawed by Sphere, a walking ecosystem, a favor to Sebastian Swift.

Two of the girls in the fight were still in holding.   Maria and Janava were both undergoing counseling and psychological assessment due to the rather extreme nature of their transformations.
Turning into a loose clutter of spiders and a werewolf-girl respectively.

The organization claiming responsibility for the attack--The Anagensi--made off with Jade, Laura & Poppy.   Sebastian Swift had Lizette coordinate an investigation, but it appeared that the group had a teleporter or some other means of rapid transportation that tehy'd been unable to track.  Social media indicators suggested that they might've been based out of New Zealand, but so far, two weeks after the attack, they weren't any closer to finding this group than before.

Those who were left--including a small set who'd simply been late to the meeting and hadn't actually been present for it, went through hours upon hours of questioning from government agencies, including the AEGIS metahuman group an the UN Council on Metahuman Affairs.

They'd been heli-lifted from Mackinac Island shortly after the attack.  It had been a fairly short ride, and the place they ended up was anotgher Island in Lake Michigan, Beaver Island.

The place didn't look like much.  Apparently, it had been a Mormon settlement when founded.  But now, the compound they'd been moved to had all sorts of military personnel.   It was obviously a military base, though it had none of the hallmarks of such a base from the outside.

The people were friendly enough.  Once questioning was done and some of the exploration of their respective powers were completed, they'd had their personal effects returned, and allowed them to contact family.  What wasn't said in so many words was that their being confined to the base for ten days had been more for their protection than for fear of them.

Swift visited twice to give updates of Lizette's investigation and let them know what they'd learned about the attacks.

One of the Anagensi men who'd been captured--on the one who'd inexplicably turned on his own men--had been potentially identified as Stephen Schmidt, an expatriot of Illinois with ties to white nationalists.  Schmidt had gone off  the radar nearly six years prior.
Well, it might not be inexplicable, depending on whether Matt made the link to his telepathic commands

They'd also met with Dylan Liu, who'd been tapped to forward the show.  a few days before leaving Beaver Island, Liu met with the survivors on the Anagensi attack on the Grand Hotel...

It wasn't as opulent as the Grand Hotel.  Beaver Isladd was one of the more remote locations in Michigan, nearly 30 kilometers from the mainland, and only accessible by water or air.  And it was not in any direct flight lines.  But it was simple and uncomplicated and quiet.

Dylan met the folks on a giant cement and stone courtyard outside one of the military hangars.  There were a couple of sun-shades and tables, some lounge-chairs and coolers.  The military boys had obviously used this as a recreation area...

He'd talked to them all individually, before this, so each of them knew what this meeting was about.   Where do they go from here?

Dylan wasn't set on continuing with the show.   In light of the attack, pushing forward with the show would just put them at potentially more risk.  Yes, it would be an almost guaranteed money-maker, and everyone involved would stand to make a lot of money and gain a lot of celebrity.   But the risks involved included increased attention and increased scrutiny of their powers and personalities and family-relationships and liabilities.  The public knew who was involved in the show.  There were websites dedicated to deep-dives into everyone's personal lives already.

But there were other options...

You could go your own way.  The network had agreed to pay a severance fee but wanted a non-compete agreement preventing you from doing any TV or movie work for a period of five years.

Sebastian Swift had suggested that you could take the time to move to undisclosed locations, take the time to train and learn your abilities.   It would be partially funded by the network but it would change from a reality-show format and, instead, released as a documentary or "drama-mentary" release at an appropriate time.   In this way, your safety is a little bit more shored up.

Swift also offered that there were Rashoud facilities in New York and Emerald City that could serve as as point-of-contact and base-of-operations under AEGIS banner until you got your feet under you.

Swift was all about pressing you into service of for the country and the world.  Liu seemed more concerned about finding a path that benefited you most...   But, ultimately, it was your choice...

So, the question on the table...

What now?

And, following that...

where do you want to set the next scenes?

In the original story, the network's base of operations was set in Emerald City...  so, it's still feasible that you might have family/friends there...

Along with everyone else licking their wounds after the attack, Alexey began to process and adjust.  His wardrobe hadn't improved much - there'd been a particularly uncomfortable laundry day where he ended up borrowing an unclaimed pair of fluffy pink sweats, skin-tight on him, with the word 'juicy' written in white along the backside.  Worse, there was a sudden lack of available shirts that day.  Somewhere there were still pictures circulating, though more for aesthetic value than intended humiliation.  Either way, it had been days since Alexey could meet anyone's gaze without turning beet-red.

Otherwise, he had improved some.  For lack of suitable footwear, Alexey started relying on his powers of flight once he could modulate low speeds.  Anything faster than a light jog still had him running into things.  Moving things other than himself had been slower to improve - after periodically impaling himself with writing implements, someone suggested he start by moving eggs from one carton to another.  Most of them on any given attempt now made the journey intact.

He gave little thought to the severance.  As far as Alexey was concerned, a constant and sustained job beat a single lump payout.  While he trusted Liu more than Swift, there was a certain draw to a government job for the young immigrant.....