Sarah Coppola was a Austrian researcher at Hulong Labs, who uncovered research flaws and after an encounter with Christopher Brandt became involved with the dealings around him.
Background[]
Sarah was born in Austria, at an unknown date 25 years prior to the show's beginning. She joined Hulong in 2014 after completing a PhD at Graz Technology University, and was assigned to the Tokyo branch. She is a 'High-Order Sensitive' and highly valuable as a subject and as a researcher.
History[]
"Begin – Danger – Message"[]
Sarah runs while looking at her phone. She broadcasts a cry for help, saying the world is in danger, but she is found and is taken to a man. We find Sarah was a researcher who found out the research she was making was not on XM. Christopher Brandt is brought to Sarah. He tells her she is special and he starts using a power and tells her the world is not what it seems. An explosion occurs, and Sarah is left unconscious.
After police officers investigate, Liu Tien Hua sends them away, and orders Sarah to be taken to Tokyo Medlab Hospital in an ambulance. She is found by Makoto Midorikawa and Jack Norman who start fighting until Sarah wakes up and hits Jack on the head.
Sarah asks Makoto if she knows him, and decides to trust him when he tells her to go with him. He introduces himself and says he does not know why he is helping her. Sarah has amnesia and cannot remember anything. They go to Hulong, where Sarah remembers her name and what XM is. She then goes to a parking lot with Makoto, who is once again attacked by Jack, who tells them they need to talk.
"Escape – Past – Destiny"[]
When Makoto was asked by Jack why he was trying to kidnap Sarah, behind a car, were Agents sent by Liu Tien Hua who orders the Sarah alive, but the rest dead. Jack sees this and fights back. Makoto is shot by an Agent, and Sarah carries him away.
Sarah and Makoto run from Jack. Makoto asks why he is chasing them, and Sarah says some people's natural talents are heightened through XM exposure. Those are people that are Sensitives. Sarah reveals herself to be one too. Her ability is to see the invisible. Makoto suggests hiding inside a building, but Jack finds them, so they keep running until Sarah suggests running up a flight of stairs.
While being chased, Sarah realizes Jack has the ability to see into the future for small periods of time. When Sarah realizes this, Makoto says he wants to let the inspector know. However, when he opens his phone, he is told he has insufficient time and tells the Ingress app installed on its own and told him to go looking for her to help her.
When the Ingress app tells Makoto the world is in danger and many force seek to harness the power of XM, and that Jack, who was tracking him, was part of the Resistance ; Sarah reveals XM enters the world through these Portals and sees they are surrounded by Resistance Portals, which unlock and give him power. Makoto is scared, and is told he must choose a faction. He looks at Sarah and chooses to join the Enlightened . Once that is done, he is told he must use an XMP Burster to attack the Resistance Portals. He does it using his phone, but he does not have the ability to see the invisible, so Sarah tells him he is doing good.
Despite their efforts, they are cornered by Jack, who holds them at gunpoint and tells them they are done playing hide and seek. Agents sent by the Liu move onto taking down Links in the meantime. Jack tells Makoto that he still has not answered his question, and asks him what he wants with Sarah again. As soon as he asks this, however, he finds out the Portal Links are destroyed and left the Control Field Δ destabilized. Jack looks up in shock to find out the Enlightened were working with her. Suddenly, Sarah and Makoto attack him and leave him unconscious. After they do this, they start running until they see a truck they decide to use for transportation.
Sarah reveals she tried to uncover some of their secrets and tells him he will be in danger if he is around her. As she starts leaving, Makoto tells her they are in it together, pointing out he is a wanted man. Sarah points out she cannot exactly remember the information Hulong wants kept private, so Makoto reveals he can see memories. Makoto tells her that he might see things she does not want him to see, but Sarah tells him to look for the information.
Makoto first sees what happened during the explosion, but he wants to see what happened before, so he is taken to Sarah looking at people being tortured. She tries to download the data, but it will not load properly. Suddenly she is being looked for by security who know where the secret data was accessed, so she starts to run and broadcasts the message she sent asking for help since the world is in danger. She was caught by a security guard she tried to convince she was not the enemy. The guard does not let her send the message.
Makoto flashes back to the present and tells her he saw a lab in a forest in her memories. Sarah remembers it and starts walking towards a Portal. Makoto holds her hand and is able to see what she is seeing. Sarah sees the lab and tells him she found where the project started. Both hear police sirens and start running, following the energy. Liu is annoyed at his Agents who were not able to catch the two running off. However, they have a tracker on Jack, which they reveal to be going to a Tokyo train station.
Sarah and Makoto reach the train station and board a train on route to Kyoto. As the two sit, Sarah puts her hand on Makoto's hand as he closes his eyes. Makoto opens his eyes, and sees the energy around them. Sarah tells him he is a Sensitive as well.
"Advance – Discover – Conflict"[]
Sarah brings Makoto and herself food. During their meal, she tells Makoto that she believes his ability to read memories is caused by XM. Adding to this, she reveals she used to research how XM unlocked what they called "Sensitive Abilities" Hulong. She also mentions that if Makoto keeps on using XM, he could be able to enhance his abilities even further.
They arrive at another station, and Sarah looks at a building from inside the train. She tells Makoto to hold her hand and look at the blue Portal, which meant it belonged to the Resistance . She mentions that it is powerful, but not to him, because he is an Enlightened .
While Sarah is enjoying her meal, Makoto suddenly grabs her and tells her to run with him, as Jack is also onboard the train. As they run, Sarah tells Makoto they entered an Enlightened Field Δ, and Sarah tells Makoto to use his psychometry. Despite being nervous at first, Makoto uses it and sees Jack and Makoto's men, but mistakenly assumes they are working together. He runs with Sarah to another end of the train, and suggests hiding in a bathroom, while comforting her. Soon, they are able to escape when Jack becomes distracted. When they have nowhere left to go, Makoto uses the emergency brake on the train, causing panic, but also enabling them to escape.
Sarah explains how XM works to Makoto, explaining that the Resistance thinks XM is a threat, so they want to contain it, so they can use it to humanity's advantage. Ever since the discovery of XM, the two factions have been at war with each other. Sarah also explains that both factions take Fields Δ from one another, as these help influence the people the Fields Δ are around. Sarah suggests they move, and starts asking people for a ride.
Sarah and Makoto manage to get a ride and arrive at a popular tourist attraction. There, Sarah is sure they have found Hulong's Kyoto facility. Sarah discovers a hidden path; which makes Makoto wonder how she did it. Sarah reminds him she sees the world differently, with XM enabling her to see far away places, also pointing out she was considered crazy as a child. Makoto mentions this happened to him as well, which often left him thinking he wished he was normal. However, Sarah mentions that thanks to his power, he was able to save them and it also allowed them to meet each other.
They near the facility, and Sarah sees a big, red Portal. Makoto decides to touch it and is soon in pain, but Sarah is able to push him away and save him. Jack makes his way to the tourist attraction, while Makoto and Sarah walk in. Sarah mentions the red matter was called "Dark XM". Normal XM only affects human psyche, while Dark XM affects the human physiology as well. Even though it provided people with short bursts of extreme power, prolonged exposure also lead to death. Makoto finds blood on the floor and sees visions of people being experimented on with Dark XM, but wonders why.
As they keep searching, Sarah discovers the servers are still running, but when trying to log into the console finds out she is locked out. Makoto tries using his psychometry to see the password, but has used his abilities too much. When he continues pushing, he finds the password and lets Sarah enter it. They find information leading to human mind control, and even found a page with Sarah's information on it. Suddenly, Makoto was grabbed from behind by Jack, who put a knife to him.
Jack tells Sarah to stay calm lest he kills Makoto, and tells her he is confused, since Hulong is looking for her as well. He hands her a phone and asks her what makes her so special. Sarah tells him she is not special, and only wants to uncover Hulong's secrets, which made her a target. Jack is not sure, however, since if that were the case, she would be dead by now. He then asks what her connection to them was and Makoto realizes they want to take advantage of her ability. As soon as he says this, Liu's men enter the facility. Jack jumps to fight them, but is shot and falls. Sarah and Makoto run away.