POWEREDS!

Powereds

Despite egregious amounts of money being thrown at research bodies, the origins of superpowered humans still defy explanation. What is known is that they are de novo beings, spontaneously conceived and carried to two-week term by uterus-possessing individuals. What is hypothesized is that this bizarre event has occurred for millennia, but it is only now, with an increasing global population and drastically altered external factors, that this has been noticed and acted upon.

For the most part, these infants appear like any other human (barring any obvious phenotypic manifestation of their particular set of powers). And, for the most part, they mature according to standardized milestones. Signs of power begin early, easily within their first year of life, but these are often subtle displays which become undeniable by the time they turn five. Adolescents are fully powered, but whether they have gained mastery of their abilities is determined by what training, if any, they've received.

As a baseline, all powered individuals possess stronger endurance, physical and physiological resilience, and faster metabolisms than their non-powered counterparts. It takes more to feed them, more to drug them; it's certainly harder to apprehend, detain and subdue them. Their lifespans are no different than the non-powered; if anything, they're shortened, due to their current subjugation at Division’s hands.

MISCELLANY

Does Division control all powereds?
    No, for all that Division has resources devoted to tracking the birth of powereds, it's safe to assume that individual powereds have, over the years, escaped Division's notice. It's also safe to assume that there are other groups out there with a vested interest in controlling those with superpowers, and that none of them are inclined to play nicely with one other. Powereds are a valuable resource, after all.
Do the public know of powereds' existence?
    For simplicity's sake: yes. The Soviets got there first with мир, known to English-speakers as Pax, a super-strength hero paraded in the mid-80s as a paragon of communist ideals. The USA was quick to respond, with Division making a show of Nil and Null (albeit advertised under very different codenames). Division operatives, their numbers, and their uses, however, are not public knowledge. People just accept that there are a very small number of "superheroes" kicking around, ala the Avengers if they'd all played ball and gone along with the Accords, or the Seven if Vought International had started off as a super shady branch of the government.
Do powereds know they are under control?
    Depends on the powered. Division-managed powereds only know that they are painfully well trained, with the conditioning each operative will undergo seen as part of the job. The party line is that they are patriots, and that they are privileged to be given these abilities, and with great privilege comes great... well, you know. For the most part, they buy into it; and if they don't, common sense dictates they shut up about it.

    Our Dirty Thirty are fully appraised of the fact that they were subjected to chemical and psychological control. While the former has been dealt with by the Velvet Glove, the latter is likely to have at least some residual hold on our gang of rogues, and you can be sure that our band of escapees are doing what they can to broadcast this information to those still in Division's thrall.

    Current, supposedly loyal operatives have had a secondary measure installed to keep them under Division's thumb: a kill switch in the brain. This is not widely known, and not something Division wants advertised.