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GEM is one of the world’s most secretive and dangerous criminal organizations, operating from the shadows for decades. To the public, it doesn’t exist. To the intelligence community, it’s little more than whispers—a ghost organization responsible for disappearances that never receive answers. Unlike HYDRA, GEM’s focus isn’t world domination. Its obsession is forced evolution. The organization kidnaps children, selecting those they believe possess the greatest potential. Before the experimentation begins, each child is forced to choose an animal—one that will become the blueprint for the horrific genetic modifications that follow. Through years of brutal experimentation, conditioning, and psychological manipulation, GEM attempts to fuse human DNA with animal traits, creating living weapons with enhanced instincts, senses, and physical abilities. Most subjects die. Many who survive are left mentally or physically broken. Only a handful are considered successful. To GEM, the subjects are not people. They’re property. And they’re no longer under the radar for The Avengers.