Shadowhunter in the Apocalypse

"THE EQUALISTS!"

The room descended into silence… well, apart from the pathetic cries of Eric and Henry.

"Tell me everything you know about these… Equalists!" Hannah said forcefully, turning to Henry. She probably assumed Eric had already gone through enough.

Henry was quick to spill his guts. "We humans are far behind other supernatural creatures, we don't have the speed of a vampire, nor their regenerative capacity, we don't have the strength of a werewolf, nor do we have any type of magic."

"A bit interesting you still consider yourself a 'human,' but go on," she pointed out.

"The Equalists aim to fix that," he continued. "They first rip the veil covering our eyes by injecting us with serums that are made using supernatural creatures' blood and other top secret materials."

"Then…" Hannah prodded, whipping her shadow to give him more incentive.

"Then the ones who survive are tasked with either recruiting more humans or—" he looked at her.

"Or capturing more supernatural creatures for their blood..." Her eyes narrowed in understanding.

He didn't need to confirm it. Reed and Hale exchanged a look that meant they understood what this could mean in the future.

"And I can see from the state of your body that this serum isn't perfected yet."

She seemed to hit a sore spot; he winced but nodded. "Yes, but it is rapidly improving."

"What else do you know?" she asked.

"Nothing! That was all we did, capture selected supernatural beings and drop them at the drop point assigned to us."

"Who did this selection?" Her eyes narrowed. "You or someone above the ladder?"

"Someone above. We were usually just sent a meeting spot and the person we were meant to capture," he replied.

Something was clicking. "And these people just happened to always be there waiting for you to capture them?"

"Yes… usually they were lured in by other Equalist agents, shown a taste of a power they could have, and then given a card to call to set up a trade for the serum. But it isn't for them, the serum was made for humans to acquire traits from supernatural beings, so of course we can't allow a supernatural being to get their hands on more power."

"So what you are trying to tell me is that an Equalist agent was in contact with our young hunters and directed you two to go to a club to kidnap them?" Her glare sharpened. They flinched a little.

"We were only given one target, so we assume the others came as backup or something."

Reed's eyes widened as he connected a lot of dots rapidly.

"And who was your target?" she questioned heavily.

Abruptly, the door to Reed and Hale's room slammed open. A hunter ran in, eyes wide open in panic.

"Commander Hale, Hunter Reed, please, I need you to come with me quickly."

"Gideon, what's wrong?" Hale probed.

"It's Mia," he blurted out. "She is having a seizure."