Abigail "Fetch" Walker, a young conduit in the D.U.P.'s custody in their prison Curdun Cay, is ordered to give a demonstration of her powers to one Brooke Augustine by battling holographic foes created by fellow Conduit Eugene. Once that is done, Abigail is told to tell the events that led up to her arrest.

Seven years earlier, Abigail was one of the first of the new Conduits who emerge following The Beast's rampage across the countryside. Although her parents tried to cope at first, they were left with few options after Abigail injured one of her classmates by mistake. Abigail's older brother, Brent Walker, immediately grabbed Abigail and ran away with her; the pair turned to drug use to cope but Brent eventually got clean, even going as far as to hide Abigail's stash to help her get clean as well. Brent also made Abigail keep the use of her powers to a minimum to avoid suspicion. For years Brent worked for gangs to acquire enough funds to buy a boat and sneak across the border from Seattle to Canada where the D.U.P.'s authority does not extend. Unfortunately, two years ago at the point where the plot was supposed to be completed, the gang of Russian mobsters known as the Akurans destroyed the boat, took Brent hostage, and almost killed Abigail with a bomb. Using her powers, Abigail survives and begins looking for Brent. Abigail soon meets Shane: one of Brent's old contacts and a small-time drug lord also looking for Brent. Shane takes advantage of Abigail's naivete to use her to win a gang war with the Akurans almost single-handedly. When they do finally find Brent, Shane takes him hostage and forces Abigail to help him cement his hold on Seattle's drug trade. Back in the present, Augustine theorizes that the new powers Abigail develops may be a reaction to extreme trauma to help her cope. On the condition that she show her all of her powers, Augustine allows Abigail to fight holograms of her "D.U.P. Troops". Once the latest challenges are completed Abigail continues her story.

Another employee of Shane's working for the city's tech support department, named Jenny, offers to help look for Brent. Jenny has narrowed down where Shane is keeping Brent to four shipping crates dotted around the city. Finding the crates not only does Abigail discover that Brent is not in any of them but Shane, already on to them, hunts down and kills Jennifer. Shane has Abigail help him force the police's favor by having Abigail slaughter the police force while he has a sit-down with the chief. The chief agrees to Shane's terms, on the condition that Abigail leaves Seattle and does not come back.