Project Viper

On a routine Space Shuttle Olympus mission, Project Viper is carried as a secret payload. A sudden power glitch ruptures containment, releasing Viper into space and triggering the crew's deaths. The disastrous release marks the beginning of a threat that could redefine life itself.

The Secretary of Defense wastes no time ordering the second Viper prototype destroyed and kept under guard. He summons Mike Connors, a special agent familiar with the project, to handle the evolving crisis. The mission transitions from a lab failure to a high-stakes manhunt across institutions.

At NovaGen, Burnham and her team toast a breakthrough as they await Diane Cafferty. A rogue officer murders guards and steals the second Viper, slipping away with the container. The thief's accomplice vanishes, forcing Connors to pick up the trail.

The thief's accomplice and the container escape via a small cargo plane, aiming for a hidden base. Connors begins pursuing through the surrounding forest as Burnham's team scrambles to understand what their creation has become. The pursuit stretches across air and ground as the chase intensifies.

A brutal engine failure sends the plane crashing into the forest near Lago Nogales, about 50 miles north of the Mexican border. The impact shatters the container and Viper invades the local ecosystem, leaving a grisly wake of disappearances and petrifying evidence of its appetite.

Connors, Burnham, and Sheriff Morgan start tracing Viper's trail through Lago Nogales and beyond. They discover the creature exploits environmental weaknesses and isn’t simply a mindless predator, complicating the response and raising the stakes.

Tests reveal Viper is drawn to uranium-contaminated water and concentrates near an abandoned mine. This discovery reframes the threat, showing that the creature targets specific environmental weaknesses rather than acting blindly.

Connors orders an electromagnetic pulse bomb to neutralize the threat as Viper heads toward the town's water supply. The plan hinges on exploiting the creature’s vulnerability to electrical disturbances while protecting civilians.

Connors and Viper confront each other at a police station, raising the tension to a breaking point. In a startling confession, Steve Elkins reveals he deliberately programmed Viper to kill humans, turning the battle from creature-virus against humanity to human ambition against humanity.

Connors defeats Elkins, but the victory comes with a heavy cost as collateral damage from the mission becomes evident. Burnham, Stanton, and others must confront the ethical implications of their work and the lives impacted by their choices.

With the threat contained, Connors and Sheriff Morgan lure Viper away from populated areas and drive it into the mine’s heart. The EMP detonates, destroying Viper and ending the rampage; the sheriff pays the price in the process while Burnham and Connors escape.

The first prototype Viper aboard the Olympus re-enters Earth's atmosphere and crashes into the Pacific Ocean, leaving a sobering question about humanity’s reach and responsibility. NovaGen and NASA confront the implications of their work as survivors wrestle with the cost of progress.