Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition Vol 1 0 (Digital)

A Dakota police officer declares that a riot is ongoing and orders his subordinates to load their guns with the new crowd-dispersing chemicals developed by Alva Industries. Virgil Hawkins is meanwhile attending a march against police brutality, since otherwise he'll be targeted by his schoolmate Frank Stone and his friends. As the crowd consisting mostly of students reaches the place where the cops are deployed, the commanding officer orders them to go to back to school or face arrest for truancy. The protesters ignore the orders however, and the police fire Alvira's chemical rounds at them. The chemicals however start killing or transforming them. When some of the cops express concern, they are ordered to keep firing.

The chemicals however end up giving electric powers to Virgil as well, before he falls unconscious. After bringing him home, his parents wonder what he was doing at the protest, and his sister Sharon reveals that he was there because of a girl, and also to avoid being bullied by Frank. Virgil's dad expresses resentment at him not bothering to learn self-defense through martial arts, while his mon questions about the girl Virgil is trying to woo. Sharon reveals that she is Freida and Virgin went to the protest despite knowing he would be targeted. Virgil however soon wakes up and Dave states that they'll start training again after he recovers.

Meanwhile at an Alvira office, Curtis Metcalf states that Alvira will blame him for what happened at the protest, and tells his co-workers that Alvira will delete the memo he sent about the chemical being unsafe. One if his co-workers reminds that he's the public face of the company, but he states that they'll just use the excuse of him becoming arrogant after being hand-picked to work there, despite hailing from a poor neighborhood. After leaving the office, he gets called by Alice and is told that his boss Edwin Alva wanted to talk to him. She however states they can do it later, before questioning what is bugging him. Curtis however assures her that he is fine.

Going to a hideout since Alvira has bugged his home, Curtis gets ready to face those coming for him in the aftermath of the protests. Just as he dons his shell forge, the police arrive, surprising Curtis since it must mean he was always under surveillance. The cops soon blow down the door after ordering him to open it, and immediately start firing at him, while pretending he's resisting arrest. They soon notice his shell forge, before Curtis berates them for attacking him without warning, and while knowing he was unarmed. He soon unloads at them and warns them to never come back.

The next day at a hospital in an impoverished neighborhood, a vlogger named Darius documents what's being done with the transformed children at the hospital. The ones who can't afford their own rooms are kept together in one room, and bandaged in some cases so their skin doesn't fall off. Darius then shows a ward where kids are kept to avoid endangering people. While showing a girl on fire and turning into smoke being taken away, he gets confronted by a guard and is forced to flee.

Darius later meets some transformed children who can't afford to be admitted to any hospital, with one telling him that he was kicked out for constantly throwing up stomach acid, while another says he was kicked out for looking like a demon. Upon being asked about their further plans, the two state that they're going to organize with others in order to take what they want, since they were marginalized before the Big Bang and now their condition is worse. As they state that they have to go meet the one organizing them, Darius questions their leader's identity, and one of them reveals that they're a super-powered criminal called Holocaust.

Meanwhile, Virgil soon learns to control his powers after struggling with them, by focusing his anger. He decides to go back to school despite his mother's reluctance, and remembers about participating in the march upon being invited by Frieda. Virgil stated that he wanted to protest because police brutality concerned him as a black person, but Frank stated that he was only pretending to be culturally black, in order to get Frieda. Frieda criticized him as a racist, before being called a slut in response. This caused Virgil to punch him in anger, with Frank and his friends attacking him in revenge. The other African-American protestors came to his rescue, but this led to a race riot.

Returning to school, Virgil stops Frank (now calling himself "Hotstreak") from harassing a girl, while he is showing off his pyrokinetic powers. Frank warns the cops won't save him like last time and attacks him, but soon gets struck by a massive blast. As he continues discharging electricity, a student states tells him to stop or Frank will die. Others encourage him to kill Frank, but Virgil restrains himself. A guard soon confronts him, but lets him go after everyone, including Frank, vouch for him and state nothing happened.

Rocket meanwhile travels to a Colombian jungle with Icon, a centuries-old alien she convinced to become a superhero and help her take down drug dealers. The drug cartels however soon start firing at their aircraft, but Icon successfully drops her off. She destroys the drug processing facility with her punch, before Icon attacks them with his superpowers to fill them with terror, a suggestion she suggested he use to discourage criminals. While eating tacos with her later, Icon tells Rocket to call her mom to assure that she's safe, but she soon learns about protesters being transformed after being fired at by cops. Icon decides to return to Dakota upon learning this.

Meanwhile at a building in Dakota, Holocaust tells the poor super-powered black kids that they were being neglected even before the Big Bang. They came to him as they had nowhere else to go and the cops want to hunt them down, but he states they are too afraid of them to do it. Holocaust states they can never break them, just like they failed to break their race for four centuries, and now they can fight back due to the powers they have. He tells them that they are going to protect their kind, and take what they want by force, promises it will start on that very day.

Appearing in "The Big Bang"

Featured Characters:

Hardware
Icon
Rocket
Virgil Hawkins (Origin) (Flashback and main story)

Supporting Characters:

Jean Hawkins (First appearance)
Dave Hawkins
Sharon Hawkins (First appearance)

Antagonists:

Alva Industries
- Edwin Alva (Mentioned only)
Drug cartel
Greater Dakota Police Department
Holocaust (First appearance)
Hotstreak (Frank Stone) (Origin) (Flashback and main story)

Other Characters:

Alice (Phone call only)
Darius (Single appearance)
Frieda Goren (First appearance) (Flashback only)
Trisha (Single appearance)
Emmett Till (Mentioned only)
Sandra Ervin (Mentioned only)

Locations:

Earth M
- Colombia
- United States of America
  - Dakota City
    - Ernest Hemingway High School
    - Paris Island (Mentioned only)
  - Applachia (Mentioned only)
  - Palm Desert (Mentioned only)

Items:

Hardware's Shell Forge

Events:

The Big Bang

Synopsis for "Milestone Returns: Fandome Preview"

This story is reprinted from Milestone Returns #0.

While trying to rob a house for a boy she liked and her desire to get a typewriter (due to her suspicion of the government monitoring all phones), the young Raquel Ervin came across its owner, a centuries-old alien disguised as a man named "Augustus Freeman". Raquel later convinced him to become a superhero along with her in order to make the world better, forming the unlikely partnership of "Icon and Rocket".

While addressing the United Nations later, Icon introduces himself and tells them how he crash-landed on Earth and has been waiting to be able to leave as soon as the planet's technology is advanced enough to allow him to. He informs that there are other planets containing life as well and other aliens live on Earth, but have remained hidden due to its backward culture. Having visited other planets, he informs that the most advanced cultures are the ones united by love, but knows that Earthlings scoff at the thought.

Icon states that he has sometimes helped Earth in the past, and recently Rocket has encouraged him to do it again, but in a more attention-grabbing way to inspire others, so the overall condition of society could be better for her and her family. Hence, he has chosen her, since she comes from one of the most oppressed groups on the planet. Icon however assures he doesn't have any wish to rule over them and only wants to improve the planet before leaving.

Later, Icon shows uses his vast surveillance network to show Rocket various people of interest, the first being the young hero Static whose heroics he is impressed by, and proceeds to tell her more about him. Static was a kid named Virgil Hawkins who often used to be bullied at school, and wished to be as strong as his father Dave. He decided to attend a protest against police brutality after a girl in her class invited her, but was attacked by a bunch of bullies. He stood up to them but a riot soon broke out, and the police fired a mysterious chemical at them.

The chemical that affected Virgil however also gave him powers, allowing him to fight back against bullies, so of whom had also acquired powers due to the same chemical. Virgil however being smarter and being more experienced in understanding of his powers, can fight more effectively. Now he fights both the bullies and the corrupt police. Virgil however becomes interested about Rocket, who goes to her school, and wonders if she is dating Icon.

As Rocket scoffs at the idea of dating Static, Icon tells her to calm down since the boy is being hunted by a hyper-violent vigilante, attacking anyone he thinks might be a criminal even if there's no proof, and makes his own definition of what constitutes a crime. Rocket believes the vigilante is insane, even if a racist, and is misguided by his privileged life. She decides to go apprehend him before he attacks Static, but is stopped by Icon who wants to show her more.

Kelly and David, two scientists who were in love, created a chemical to make plants grow faster. It however ended merging them into one superhuman body, struggles with each other's psyches inside its head. Rocket gets shocked at what she saw and wonders why so many strange things are happening at once. Unknown to her and Icon, a man named Dharma is watching them and every other superhuman. He states that they are only a small part of what's to come, and he is deciding their places for the coming war.

Appearing in "Milestone Returns: Fandome Preview"