Override (Glitch)

didn’t get moving, I was only putting our lives in danger.
    I nodded and followed Adrien as he scrambled over the piles of trash barrels spread haphazardly between us and the exit. My boots weighed so much I could barely lift my legs high enough to step over some of them. I stumbled once, but caught myself before I fell, while Adrien punched the button to open the door. The large bay door rolled slowly into the ceiling, groaning as it went. We bent down and scooted under as soon as it was high enough.
    The sunlight was blinding. I’d spent three months in a room with only a dim light cell, and the intensity of the daylight seared through my eyes to the back of my skull. There was no time to adjust, so I squeezed my eyes closed except for a tiny crack and let Adrien pull me ahead.
    “We’re on the east end of the building, right?” Adrien asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “Good.” He sounded relieved. “That means my duo-rider is around the corner.”
    I had no idea what a duo-rider was, but I just focused on running as fast as I could and watching the concrete under my feet so I didn’t trip.
    “There!”
    I looked up and saw a small egg-shaped vehicle by the wall. The engine was already running and it hovered a few feet off the ground, though I didn’t quite know how. There weren’t any of the fuel-burning propulsion modules roaring along the bottom like I’d seen in other flying transports. The engine was just quietly whirring. The top half of the vehicle was made of one solid oval window. Adrien raised his hand and clicked a small hand-held device. The window lifted up and backward to reveal two seats, one behind the other, and a small stepladder dropped down the side.
    I tried to step up with my thick, booted foot, but it didn’t fit into the ladder rung.
    “Come on,” I said to myself, as I tried again and managed to get my boot tip wedged in enough to hike myself up. I heaved my body over the side and into the narrow backseat, looking up just in time to see a Reg burst out of the backside of the building.
    “Adrien, get in!”
    His wiry body moved faster than I’d ever seen as he leapt into the front seat and sealed the window shut in the same motion. The Regulator ran straight at us.
    “Why isn’t he shooting?” My voice was near hysterical. We were a clear target out in the open like this.
    Adrien grabbed the steering controls. “He’s the one missing his firing arm.” We lifted off the ground.
    I sat back and buckled myself in. After another moment, I breathed out in relief as the vehicle rose higher and higher into the air.
    We were safe.
    Then the vehicle rocked forward suddenly, making me lurch in my seat. I looked ahead and saw a metal hand clamped on the small hood of the duo, inches away from the window. We were almost twenty feet in the air now, but the Reg had still managed to launch himself high enough to grab hold.
    He pulled himself up over the front edge with his one arm. The flesh portions of his face were blistered from the acid, parts of his nose and his bionic eye missing entirely. Even the metal on part of his face had melted and partially slid off, revealing the bone underneath. But none of it stopped him. He pulled himself higher up the hood of the duo with single-minded determination.
    Adrien fought with the steering, veering wildly left then right in an attempt to shake him, but the Reg had gotten an iron grip on the lip of the front windshield.
    I closed my eyes and tried to focus. I needed to use my telek. I could easily dislodge him.
    Nothing happened.
    With a giant crack, the Reg smashed his head against the window. It was reinforced plastic, so it only cracked and dented inward, but a couple more hits like that, and he’d make it through and get to Adrien. The image of Milton’s crushed skull flashed in my mind.
    There was no more time to try accessing my power. I reached over to the front seat and grabbed the weapon holstered at Adrien’s hip.
    “Open the top,” I yelled. Adrien didn’t look my way, but he reached forward and clicked a switch. The window started lifting up and backward, creating a crazy rush of air that almost knocked the weapon out of my hand. I managed to keep a grip and pushed the trigger. A burst of red light flared straight into the Reg’s face with enough momentum that he was blown backward. He didn’t release the metal shell as he tumbled down. The duo’s hood peeled off with him, leaving the engine underneath exposed.
    Still the Reg