The issue begins in Juarez, Mexico in 2027 AD. The setting is a safe house for a Mexican drug Cartel with several armed guards, under the guise of a meat supplier for the "Hot Shot Burger" fast food chain. An unknown, but apparantly augmented assailant drops several guards without sounding an alarm. Meanwhile, inside one of the houses on the compound, a young woman identified as Nina Freeman is tied to a chair. She is missing several fingers, her wounds are infected, she is in shock and dehydrated. Alexander Kronstadt, an enforcer for the Stolchinaya Mafia Clan, is threatening to maim her once more when the unknown infiltrator bursts through the ceiling and stabs Kronstadt's "surgeon" through the wrist, just before he is able to do any more harm to Nina. There is a short gun battle and fis