The Stronghold 2: Immortals

New Squad

When I returned there was a small gathering in my room. Brian was being fussed over by a young girl with dark brown hair and tan skin, Delta was arguing with someone who looked just like her but with flowing blonde hair, Tobi was talking to a boy with purple hair and Harry was stood there looking incredibly out of his depth. The noise level was extreme and to quieten everyone down I stuck two fingers in my mouth and whistled sharply.

"Thank you," I said once silence had fallen. "Now, can someone tell me who half these people are?"

"I'm Angel," the girl with blonde hair said, drifting forwards to shake my hand daintily. 

"She's really called Alpha," Delta said in a stage whisper. 

"Do you all have Greek letters as your names?" Brian questioned. "As you two are obviously twins."

"Unfortunately, we do," Harry sighed. "You try telling somebody that your name is Heta without them laughing."

"Okay, you're Harry," I nodded. "You're Angel." I took my hand from the girl's grasp. "And Delta is Delta."

"Correct."

"What are you, Angel?" I questioned. 

"An angel," she replied with a smile. "I make people happy and calm."

"She manipulates emotions," Harry said.

"And can blind people with her imaginary halo," Delta said loudly.

"At least I could pass as a normal human being," Angel said to her sister. 

"With hair that white? No way," Delta snorted. 

"At least it's natural, unlike your dyed pixie cut," Angel said with a sickeningly sweet smile. I stepped away from her and turned to Tobi.

"Tobi, who's purple guy?" I asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Max," the boy said, standing up and extending his hand with a smile. "I work in the night. Seeing in the dark, sensing things, sucking the light out of places, that sort of thing."

"You and I should get along," I said with a smile, shaking his hand and letting shadows curl out around my palm. Max laughed and stood back, next to Tobi.

"And that leaves me as the only unnamed one," the girl who had been talking to Brian said. She turned around to me and smiled, revealing a very pretty face with a very pretty smile. She had glossy, dark brown hair that tumbled to her waist and strong features, dark eyed with a dark complexion. 

"My name is Cleo," she said. "I am a healer."

"Shaade," I said, taking her hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

"So you're dropping Shadow now?" Harry said. 

"Yes." I released Cleo's hand and turned back to the man. "It's getting tiresome."

"I've already explained to the children your predicament," Harry announced. "They are willing to put forward their own abilities as aid."

"Say that again in English?"

"The kids want to help," Brian said. "And Cleo certainly has. She's a better healer than you, Shaade."

Part of me bristled with jealousy but I was mostly glad that Brian was fixed and not in pain. "So you can walk now?"

"Yep."

"Good. We're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to be defeating wave upon wave of evil creatures."

"Is it too late to back out?" Tobi asked weakly. I looked over at him curiously.

"Why?" 

"I don't have anything that can help," he explained. "I can just change the colour of my hair, my skin, whatever. I'm useless."

"You could blend into the background of things," Brian pointed out. "Hide in plain sight. Try it, go the same colour as the wall."

Tobi blinked nervously but did as he was told, turning the same pale blue as the wall behind him. The only way you could tell there was anybody there was by the rapidly fading outline of his body. Once that went he was completely invisible.

"Everybody can help," I said with a grin. "Even you, Tobi. Don't ever tell yourself you're useless because you're not. Any one of you could be the one to save this entire planet and everybody on it."

"Are we going to get hurt?" Angel asked.

"Probably. If you move quick enough then no, you won't. Move too slow and you may lose a limb." An idea sparked in my brain and I turned to Cleo. "Cleo, could you do me a favour?"

"What do you ask of me?" Cleo said politely. I held up a hand and vanished back to RSA, grabbing Georgina by the arm and taking her with me back to Nightmare. She looked ready to either punch me or pass out and so I made sure I was supporting her, keeping one arm trapped by her side and the other - the metal one - out in front of her.

"Could you heal my friend's arm?" I asked the girl. Cleo ran her eyes over the metal and then nodded, touching a clasp with her fingertip and making it fall off. Georgina hissed in pain and I had to look away at the burnt skin. Josh had done that. 

"Done," Cleo said about a minute later. I glanced back to see a freckled arm, perfectly healed, in place of the scarred, burnt one. 

"Wow," Georgina breathed. "Thank you."

"Oh, er, guys, this is Georgina," I said, realising a lot of people were staring. "One of the original super glitches, pretty kick-ass, a cool person."

"Hi," Georgina said.

"She's going to help us fight the creatures," I said. "Along with the other super glitches."

"Have you asked them yet?" Georgina questioned.

"You can do that," I said, patting her on the shoulder and sending her back to RSA. Once the room had cleared of shadows I grinned and clapped my hands together cheerfully.

"Right then," I said. "What do you normally do at Nightmare?"

"We-" Harry began but was interrupted by a siren going off. 

"Creatures have escaped from their cages!" a voice announced over a hidden speaker system. Brian yelped at the loud noises and covered his ears with two pillows in an attempt to block it out, or at least do less damage to his sensitive hearing. 

"All agents report to the hall for briefing!"

"Well, I guess that's where we're going," I said, about to shadow myself to the ground floor.

"We need to walk down the stairs," Harry said. "Any transportation magic used right now will be blocked off halfway through and seriously injure the user."

"Dammit," I cursed. "The stairs it is."