Super Glitches 5: The Soldier's Vow

Lab Rats

"Now you're all quiet," Benny said through gritted teeth, breathing heavily, "I can explain what I was going to say to you all."

"Which was...?" Georgina said, raising an eyebrow. Benny made a whining noise and put his head in his hands, rocking back and forth slightly.

"Be quiet," he moaned.

"Let him talk," I said. "He's the only person in this room who doesn't speak nonsense."

"Thank you, Josh," Benny said. "Anyway, once again I have a proposition for you.

'This war is advancing quicker than we could have thought. The soldiers aren't being trained quick enough and we need fighters. You guys have the powers contained within you - you just need a little bit of coaxing to get it out.

'So what Rainfall plans to do is take you away, experiment on you a little and then send you out into battle. Is that a good plan?"

"We've been experimented on before," Rebecca frowned. "It didn't end well."

"How so?"

"Well, Shaade turned into Edaahs, we all died, Loki appeared at the end and said he'd been watching us the entire time, the world nearly ended and lots of people died," Sophie explained.

"Hmm. Well, this time nothing will happen," Benny reassured us. "We have top scientists and everything will be monitored."

"I don't trust you," Georgina said suspiciously.

"Why not?"

"You've been pumping gas into this room the entire time we've been here," Georgina said, raising an eyebrow, eyes returning to the blue-grey colour to glare at Benny coldly.

"Well, I've been busted," Benny murmured. "Shame. This was the easy way."

"What's the hard way?" Shaade said uncertainly. Benny grimaced.

"That," he said. I heard the whoosh of air and felt something smack into the back of my head. Darkness clouded my vision and I slid off my chair and onto the floor, blacking out.

*

Benny folded his arms and checked his watch. The procedure was taking much longer than planned and something was bound to go wrong.

"Sir, this boy says that he might be able to help," a scientist said, hanging his glasses around his neck and glancing at the teenager disapprovingly. He was under average height for a thirteen year old, broad shouldered but slim at the waist. His eyes were dark brown and his hair darker still, stripes of grey flicked through it. The style wasn't quite a quiff, more of a gelled back, slicked up puff of voluminous bounce.

"I can," he insisted. "I designed Georgina's arm, look." He darted past the security and held up the unconscious girl's forearm. He tapped a few buttons and a ringing noise filled the laboratory. The teenager flicked his phone out of his pocket and showed Benny the screen. 

"A coincidence," a second scientist sneered. The young man shook his head.

"That's the bare minimum that I can do without actually wearing it," he shot back. "And seeing as Georgina no longer has a left forearm, I'm not going to take it off her."

"Scientists, I think we can leave this kid with Georgina," Benny said thoughtfully. Every white coated adult moved away from the head Super Glitch, leaving the teenager with his creation.

"Kid, I'm trusting you," Benny warned, walking up behind the boy. "Don't meddle with Georgina in any way."

"Um..."