By 2035, France's economy has collapsed. While people still vote for their politicians, the
truth is that big corporations control everything now because they've bought the country's debt.
Fifteen million people are unemployed and living in homeless camps under the Eiffel Tower. Riots
and protests become part of the daily routine, especially when the corporations pass reforms
in their favor, deregulating many industries. The most scandalous one is the legalization of
human experimentation and performance-enhancing stimulants, which transform athletes into their
guinea pigs in exchange for sponsorships and easier wins. Any person is free to sell their
body however they want as free trade. Reda arrived in France when he was ten years old and the land
was still prosperous. Nowadays, unfortunately, he's another victim of the system and works as a
cage fighter under the stage name Ares. He used to be among the best ones and received all kinds of
sponsorships, but one day, he accepted a deal on an experimental stimulant that gave him a stroke.
It's been ten years since then, and now he's just another low-ranked fighter that nobody
will pay for. To earn some extra cash, Reda sometimes accepts to work for Altman, a cop
that occasionally hires enhanced fighters when riots get too rough and they need extra security.
It's during one of these riots that Reda notices Altman making a deal with a mysterious big man,
he also sees his niece Anouk getting arrested for being part of the protest.
Speaking of the riots, all this bad publicity is starting to worry the investors of the Donevia
corporation, so its CEO must think of something fast. Sometime later, Reda bails Anouk out of jail
as announcements all over the city inform that firearms are now illegal. Reda takes Anouk back
to his sister Carla, who is also working with the rebels. She and new member Boris show him that the
Donevia CEO is denying any kind of problems with their stimulants and swearing that the athletes
know the risk, which is a lie. Reda doesn't care though, he prefers having money to survive and
stay out of trouble. Afterward, Reda goes to Altman's place to spend the night with her,
thanking her for helping Anouk. Some days later, corporate executive Anna informs the Donevia CEO
that their latest stimulant tests have failed and more than ten thousand are dead. The CEO orders
her to use Reda, who had survived the stimulant the last time even if it gave him a stroke.
The fact he isn't doing well nowadays will only make his comeback story a more powerful tale in
their ads. Later in the evening, when Reda goes to see his coach, he finds Anna in the office.
They want him to try Donevia's new stimulant, the HSX, because he's the only one that has
survived it so far. However, Reda turns them down, not wanting to risk another stroke.
Afterward, Reda stops by a kiosk to get some food, and the owner reminds him that he will indeed sell
the kiosk to him if he manages to get the money. When he returns home, Reda puts today's winnings
in a box with his savings. The next day, Reda bumps into Myosotis, his cross-dressing neighbor.
They don't have a good relationship, exchanging insults whenever they see each other in the
hallway, but at least they don't bother each other either. On his way out, Reda is intercepted
by a couple of cops, who inform him Carla has been arrested for possessing an illegal gun,
for which she may get five to ten years. Reda goes to the station and tries to tell them the gun is
his, but the detective quickly catches his lie when he can't even tell what kind of gun it was.
Until this issue gets resolved, Reda will be in charge of his nieces Anouk and Mae,
but as soon as they're out of the station, he calls Altman for help. She promises to look into
Carla's case and advises Reda to lay low for now. Outside the building, Reda finds Boris,
who has brought a lawyer with him and promises to have evidence that Carla had been staged.
Reda asks him to speak in private and they go to the bathroom, but instead of listening,
Reda grabs Boris by his hair and dunks his head in the toilet. He knows the rebels handle
illegal weapons for protection and thinks Carla's been arrested because they made a dumb mistake,
so he doesn't want to hear any excuses. The next day, Reda gets to visit Carla for just a
minute by paying off one of the cops. Carla also swears she's been staged and Reda doesn't know
what to think, but he does advise her not to get into trouble because he can't protect her here.
In the evening, while Reda is making dinner for the girls, he discovers Anouk is still in
contact with Boris. He forbids her from working with the rebels anymore, and Anouk throws a fit,
accusing Reda of being uncaring for not joining the fight. She drops her food
as a sign of protest, and Reda slaps her for it, prompting Anouk to call him violent and obedient,
which makes him perfect for a cop. Then she leaves the building, and Reda worries about her in this
dangerous neighborhood, so he goes to see Myosotis to ask him to watch Mae while he goes after Anouk.
It doesn't take Reda long to find Anouk, who has been captured by a gang. At first, the teens try
to look tough, but as soon as Reda easily beats up their leader, they free Anouk and run away.
Reda reminds Anouk that her mother is in prison and getting into trouble will make matters worse,
he also points out that to free her he'll probably need money, so if she wants her mom back she must
accept how the world works. On their way back home, Reda gets a call from Altman saying she
has news about Carla's case, so he drops Anouk at Myosotis' place as well. He tries to pay him for
the babysitting, but he gets offended and turns the money down. Once Reda meets with Altman, he
learns Carla was arrested because of an anonymous tip. They may have a chance by bribing the guards,
but it'll cost Reda one hundred thousand and he must get it quickly before Carla is prosecuted.
Seeing as he has no choice, Reda goes back to his coach and Anna to discuss the deal with
the HSX stimulant. Lab helper Tyro shows him a quick test by trying a drop of the stimulant
on different samples of blood, and only Reda's stays unaffected. There are some risks though:
the withdrawal symptoms are intense, and Reda will lose consciousness after a match, so he only has
five minutes to win. The plan is for the coach to sign him up in the big championship while telling
everyone he still sucks, allowing them to win bets by a huge margin. If Reda can bear three rounds,
he'll be paid one hundred twenty thousand. Reda accepts the deal,
then goes back to his building to pick up his nieces. They get along wonderfully with Myosotis,
who has cameras all over his apartment because he livestreams his life. The girls say goodbye,
but Reda won't even thank Myosotis for the help before leaving. Sometime later, the coach
is furious to discover Reda will be going against Panzer, a fighter that has had his nervous system
tweaked and he no longer feels pain. No matter what Anna says, the coach thinks Reda can't win,
so he'll bet against him instead on him like they had agreed. Reda decides to take a risk and
use his kiosk savings for this, but since he can't bet on himself, he asks Myosotis to do it for him.
The girls stay with Myosotis the night of the match too, and the Donevia CEO invites
all the investors to watch the match at the company's office as a presentation of HSX.
Reda enters the cage after Tyro injects him with the stimulant, his senses turned up to eleven.
Panzer comes after him with confidence, but Anna hadn't been exaggerating the effects of the HSX:
it works so well that Reda can beat up Panzer easily, barely breaking a sweat.
In fact, Panzer needs to take a second dose of his own stimulant, which never happens.
It's useless though, Reda still effortlessly beats him up before his time's over.
Reda wins the fight, but once the five minutes run out, he throws up blood all over Tyro and
passes out. Anna is smug while the coach laments his poor betting choices, and the Donevia CEO
gets the support of all the investors when they understand the potential military uses of the HSX.
When Reda wakes up, he informs everyone this was a one-time thing only, but he changes his
mind when Anna makes a juicy offer to become the face of HSX. When Reda returns home, Myosotis has
already been paid the bet money, which is enough to get Carla out and still keep some in savings.
Reda informs him that he'll keep fighting, which Anouk doesn't approve of;
she understands having one fight to save Carla but from now all his payments will be blood money.
As days pass, Reda's face appears all over HSX advertisements, and he's also interviewed on all
kinds of tv shows, which has raised the Donevia shares a fifty-three percent. Reda moves with
the girls into a nicer apartment, although Mae doesn't like it very much because Myosotis isn't
there. The day to finally free Carla comes and Reda gives Altman the money for the release,
but unfortunately, Altman brings bad news: Carla died while defending new prisoners.
Altman tries to give Reda the money back, but Reda tells her to keep it and discover who had staged
his sister. During Carla's funeral, Boris notices Anna's presence there and begins making plans.
Reda is the legal guardian of the girls, which is more reason for him to concentrate on his matches.
His next opponent will be La Masse, a large man that handles his opponents in seconds.
One evening, Reda's tv is hacked by Boris, who asks him to get information about Donevia's
experiment victims. Reda refuses, claiming Donevia isn't his enemy, but he changes his
mind when Boris shows him that the anonymous tip against Carla came from the phone outside the gym.
Reda goes to see his coach, but he swears Reda is the only one using HSX. Reda's starting to
get suspicious, but he says nothing for now. After dropping the girls with Myosotis again, he visits
Altman, and while spending the night together, he makes her promise to make sure the girls will be
safe if something happens to him. The night of the next match, the Donevia CEO and Anna watch it with
the investors again, hoping to grow their shares even more. Tyron and the coach are in the office,
eager to earn easy money, but when Reda enters the cage they notice something weird: the scientist
that Donevia sent to take blood samples and apply the HSX isn't there with him. The match starts,
but it's barely a fight at all: La Masse quickly grabs Reda by the head and hits him against the
cage until Reda passes out, finishing the match in seventeen seconds. The sports commentators called
the HSX a hoax, the coach loses a great amount of money, and Donevia's shares quickly begin sinking.
Reda wakes up a few minutes later feeling perfectly fine, and on his way out, it's revealed
that Donevia's scientist is all tied up, meaning Reda never took the HSX in the first place.
While the Donevia CEO sends Anna to find Reda so they can use him to calm down the investors,
Myosotis picks up Reda in a car. The girls are ready to leave with the money they've made by
betting on La Masse, but Reda still has some business to take care of. He asks Myosotis to
take the girls and meet him later, and if he needs anything, he can call Altman, who Reda
gives him the phone number of. But back at the apartment, someone else gets to the girls first.
Next, Reda goes to see the coach and reveals he has the HSX he should've taken. The coach gets
scared and finally confesses he did call the cops on Carla so that Reda would accept the sponsorship
for the money, he had no choice because he's the only one of his fighters that could survive this
particular stimulant. But Reda doesn't care about the excuses, and he kills the coach by injecting
him with the HSX. Anna and his bodyguard arrive at the gym as well, and Anna threatens with hurting
Reda's nieces if he doesn't cooperate. Reda tries to beat them up, but without the serum, the
bodyguard easily overpowers him. He's allowed to call Myosotis' place to confirm Anna's saying the
truth and discovers Altman has them at gunpoint because she's been working with Anna all along.
She was the one that gave Anna the idea of using the coach and Carla because she may be fond of
Reda, but she likes money more. The night of the riot, she had been talking to the bodyguard to
make the deal. As Anna takes Reda away, Myosotis calls his own house too to check on the girls.
Altman orders Anouk to pick up the call and tell Myosotis to come by, so Anouk does exactly that,
saying that Reda is already home and he wants to thank Myosotis for his help. After hanging up,
Myosotis realizes that doesn't sound like something Reda would do and gets suspicious.
He borrows a phone from a random civilian and checks the cameras at his home,
discovering the girls at gunpoint. Myosotis calls Reda, but Anna won't allow him to answer,
then he calls the number Reda had given him but hangs up as soon as he sees Altman pick up.
His only hope now is to call Boris, who wastes no time and borrows a gun from the other rebels.
On their way to Donevia, Anna explains to Reda that they need him to be patient zero in order
to stabilize the formula for general consumption. When they arrive at the office, the CEO makes
Reda admit in front of the investors that he never took the HSX. In order to do a new demonstration,
Reda is injected with HSX and will be fighting two of the bodyguards, who are genetically engineered
clones of the most powerful cage fighters. Meanwhile, Myosotis returns to his apartment
with Boris. They ring the bell, and Altman makes Mae check who it is through the peephole.
Since she only sees Myosotis, Altman thinks it's safe, but as soon as she approaches the door,
Boris shoots her. Afterward, Boris hacks into the Donevia's computers to appear in the middle
of the meeting and show Reda that his nieces are safe. Now that there's nothing holding him back,
Reda wastes no time and throws the CEO out of the window. The investors run out of the office,
but Anna stays to order the bodyguards to capture Reda, reminding them she needs him alive. Such
limitation means the bodyguards can't fight using their full power, which means a Reda full of HSX
has no trouble beating them up. Afterward, he grabs the bodyguard's gun and calls Boris, who
guides him on how to use the company's computer to release all the information about the disgusting
experiments. People are starting to gather outside to look at the CEO's body, including Myosotis and
Anouk, who came by to pick him up. However, Reda calls Anouk and tells her not to bother.
As long as he's alive to be "patient zero", they'll never leave his nieces alone.
He hangs up after finally sending his regards to Myosotis, then he waits for the five minutes
to be over, and once his body is normally human again, Reda uses the gun to end it all.
Meanwhile, Boris finishes doing his hacking, and now screens all over France show the ways
Donevia has been using and killing people. This is the spark society needs to kick off
a serious movement against the corporate leadership of France, and riots all over
the place begin to take place while using Reda's face as the symbol of their rebellion.