"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..."
"Not like that! I mean don't mess around with her powers. That arm is strength enough. Add a few more powers if you wish and give her a bit of armour but don't hurt her. We may still be able to save her yet."
The boy nodded and snapped his fingers. His belt slid apart to reveal hundreds of tools, wires and gadgets. He swiftly got to work and Benny moved away.
Josh was strapped up securely, chest rising and falling at a rapid rate. His skin was turning red and blue and random lumps stuck up all over his skin, bright white. His eyes flew open and were briefly red before snapping shut again. He emitted a low groan, skin returning to normal before spontaneously combusting.
"Get him under control!" Benny shouted, backing away a few steps. One brave scientist reached out and Josh - no, Burn - laughed, grabbing the man's wrist, eyes still tightly shut.
"You can never leave," he rasped, giggling. Benny pressed a button on his watch for complete shutdown and ushered the scientists out of the room. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do for the plucky soul who had tried to help, him being turned to ashes by Burn's power.
Benny swore under his breath and half-ran to the other side of the room, turning on his heel and checking Rebecca's progress. Her hair stood on end and electricity crackled around her hands. Benny felt the hairs on his arms slowly raise and he shivered, static making the air vibrate.
Sophie was the next teenager hooked up to machines. Pointed ears stuck out through her hair and a tail curled around her waist. She was breathing evenly, skin taking on a light brown, shiny effect, almost as if she were covered in fur.
Shaade was the final experiment, placed next to Georgina in order. The teenage scientist shuffled aside as Benny walked over, noting down Shaade's heartrate on the back of his hand.
"Interesting," Benny murmured to himself. Shaade flickered out of sight and back into view every so often, a different person taking his place. This person had darker hair, black clothes (not much change there) and with completely black eyes. Shaade's eyes would open a few seconds at a time to reveal that they were blue again.
"There," the boy said, running a hand through his hair, only adding to the 'pattern'. "Her arm has been upgraded."
"How do you mean?" Benny asked, turning around and frowning. The boy grinned.
"I was thinking about the design," he said. "It looked a little too much like Iron Man's arm and so I edited it. The buttons have gone and the hologram panel is activated by waving your hand over the dark blue stripe. The colours, as you may have noticed, have changed too. From red and gold to blue and black, much more classy and spy-like."
"Very nice," Benny said, nodding approvingly. "It fits Rainfall's uniform."
"They're going to be wearing a uniform?"
"Yep. Black jacket and trousers, navy top and dark brown belt and holsters."
"Does everyone wear that?"
"All our agents, yes."
"But the Super Glitches aren't agents," the boy pointed out. "Look at them.
'Shaade has a second person living inside him. Josh also does but his is a lot more dangerous, a combustible demon. Together they work well as a team but rely on one another for protection and well, sanity.
'Georgina is strong. She didn't die or lose too much blood when she lost her forearm and that is true strength. She also learnt to work that metal thing a lot quicker than you'd expect - hang on, did I say she lost her arm?" The boy frowned and then nodded. "Yeah, I did. Well, that's wrong."
"Wrong?"
"She still has her arm, it's just horribly burnt and won't heal quickly. The arm is more of a glove, keeping it safe whilst it heals."
"How long will this take?"
"I'm not sure. The metal and technology might enhance the healing or it might slow it down. Maybe she'll never heal, I don't know. Can I continue with my 'no uniform' rant now?"
"Please, do."
"Where was I? Oh yes. Rebecca is insane, an animal inside. But just look over at her - she's crackling. That's her mentality controlling all of that, pure adrenaline converted into electricity and power. That's dangerous yet awesome and with her craziness yet ability to follow a voice of logic - Georgina is the best the Super Glitches have, in that case - makes her a powerful weapon.
'Sophie is linked to animals in ways we can't possibly fathom yet she's still a normal human being. See there? She has cat ears and a tail. Maybe she's a shapeshifter, maybe she'll actually turn into a cat. Maybe she can talk to animals, maybe she controls them. Will we know? Not until she wakes up and even then it's doubtful if she'll ever find out.
'But remember their name. Super Glitches. Something will end up going wrong, their powers will fail and glitch. Any mission you send them on will either fail or work too well. Hundreds will die, Mr Sidneys. By taking these teenagers here and advancing their powers beyond anything controllable you may have just killed us all." The boy raised his head and looked Benny in the eye, sadness, pity and fear bubbling there.
"And if you don't mind," he added, "I'd rather stay alive, thank you very much."
In a sudden blur of movement the teenager had sprinted across the room, yanking out every plug from every socket. The machines turned off and the Super Glitches slowly began to wake up, moving, yawning and rubbing their eyes.
"I'm sorry, Mr Sidneys," the boy said gravely. "But this is necessary."
*
I opened my eyes and stretched my shoulders, yawning widely. I shut my mouth and neatened my hair with my hand, not realising I was on fire. I quickly shut off my power and stepped down from the vertical holding cell I had been strapped into.
"Pepper?" Georgina said in surprise, jumping down from her cell and nearly overbalancing on the floor. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving you lot," the young scientist replied.
"Saving us? What do you mean?" Sophie asked, landing lightly on the floor, claws uncurling.
"And why's Sophie a cat?" Rebecca added, drifting to the floor and giving everyone a mild shock.
"I think Mr Sidneys will explain," Pepper said coolly.
"Benny?" I said, raising an eyebrow. He sighed and balled his hands into fists, visibly counting to ten.
"We at Rainfall plan to use you as soldiers, like I said before," he said. "But to do so we needed you to access your full powers. Unfortunately Mister..." He indicated Pepper who stepped forwards and held out his hand.
"Pepper Rogers, child genius, scientist and inventor with brilliant hair," Pepper said with a bright smile. "Don't ask."
"Mister Rogers pointed out a flaw in our plan," Benny continued. "He said that your powers are certain to glitch. It's true; from your previous adventures there is a clear pattern of failure and destruction.
'Mister Rogers also said that you will collectively end up killing the universe. I have seen your files, this already nearly happened. The bizarre twists and turns of your lives is astounding, mind blowing even. I do not wish these fates to befall you whilst under my care."
"You mean under Rainfall's care," Shaade corrected him, stepping off his podium and immediately blending into the shadows as he turned invisible. Edaahs replaced him, grinning evilly, eyes black as coal. Shaade coughed and reappeared, blue eyed and smiling sheepishly.
"No," Benny said. "My care. You're part of my unit, the special operations division."
"SOD," Georgina said, nodding. "Brilliant name, sir."
The others sniggered whereas only a small smile appeared on my face. I was burning from the inside, fire clawing at my organs, smoke filling my lungs. I was getting dizzy with headaches splitting my skull in half every three seconds.
"Josh? Are you okay?" Shaade asked in concern, seeing me shut my eyes and start taking deep breaths. I nodded and then shook my head.
"No," I mumbled. "My head... Ow..."
"Is there a doctor in the house?" Rebecca shouted. "I've always wanted to say that," she added.
"Coming through," Pepper said, whizzing about the room like the Road Runner. He lifted my head and angled it, shining a torch in my eye. A damp towel was pressed against my forehead, layered with an ice pack and a bandage. He moved quicker than anything I'd ever seen before, speedily patching me up.
Or trying to, at least.
The flames and heat erupted from within and I turned into a human candle. Pepper leapt backwards, flying across the room from a sudden heatwave. He cracked his head on the edge of a cell and groaned, slumping to the floor.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. Shaade took a step towards me, shaking his head, bottom lip trembling.
"No," he said, voice cracking. "No!"
"See you in Hell," I said, one final smile on my face.