Override (Glitch)

ground.
    Rand and Juan jumped down from their beds, ready to attack. I lifted a hand, trying to warn them to stay back. I knew everyone in the compound would be here any second, and we needed Max alive and conscious to find out what he’d done with Adrien. My buzzing power swarmed around him, but I was sure I would kill him in my panicked rage if I used it. He squeezed tighter, cutting off my air supply, and pulled me backward toward the exit. The pressure squeezed tears out of my eyes.
    I turned my head sideways in his grip like Tyryn had taught us in training and then with my free arm reared back and elbowed Max hard in the stomach.
    With a surprised gasp of pain, he lessened his grip, and I used the moment to drop to the ground and wriggle out of his grasp. Rand was on Max the next second, catching him and pinning both of his arms behind his back.
    “Who are you? What are you doing here?” Rand growled as the door opened. Sophia ran into the room, with Tyryn and Professor Henry right behind. Tyryn started typing on his arm com and firing off commands.
    “Where’s Adrien?” Sophia asked, swirling one way and then the other as she searched the faces in the room.
    All I could do was stare at Max. He blinked hard, like he was just waking up. Everyone was talking at once. Max looked down at the knife on the ground, then back at me.
    “I didn’t mean to attack you, Zo, I swear! Chancellor Bright must have implanted some kind of sleeper compulsion to kill you if my cover was blown. I would never hurt you, you have to believe me!”
    It felt like I was watching the scene through a marbled pane of glass, separate from it. None of this made any sense.
    Sophia screamed, knocking Max out of Rand’s grasp and kicking him hard in the gut when he hit the ground. “Where is my son?”
    Max didn’t say anything and she kicked him hard again.
    “Stop it, Sophia!” I crouched down beside him. Even though it repulsed me, I put my hand on Max’s face. “If you ever had any love for me, just tell me where Adrien is.”
    Max looked up at me, his eyes unsure. “I don’t know, Zoe, I swear. The Chancellor took him.”
    My legs threatened to give out from under me. “How long? How long ago did she take him? How long have you been here pretending to be him?”
    Max looked down, avoiding my eyes. “Since your raid on our facility.”
    I stepped backward. No. It couldn’t be true. He’d been imitating Adrien for a month and a half? I would have noticed. How could I not have noticed?
    The buzzing became a screech in my head and I lost control for a moment. The table and chairs flew against the wall with a loud clatter, startling everyone. I backed up a few steps. None of this was real. It couldn’t be.
    A sudden explosion of pain across my cheek startled me back into my body. Adrien’s mom had slapped me. I blinked and looked at her as she raised her arm to strike me again. Tyryn grabbed her, trapping her arms against her chest to hold her back.
    “I knew you’d get him hurt!” she shrieked, fighting to get free from Tyryn. “I tried to keep him away from all this. But he wouldn’t listen, because of you!”
    Everyone’s attention was turned toward us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max disappear. Literally disappear .
    One moment his body had been clearly there on the ground, and the next there was only air. I gasped and lurched forward to the space where he’d just been.
    Tyryn turned to his com again. “Lockdown! Full facility lockdown,” he said. It lit up everyone’s forearm panels and came over the loudspeaker. “Intruder alert. I repeat, intruder alert. Everyone rendezvous at the training center and await further instructions.”
    Tyryn ran out the door, Rand and Juan on his heels. I raced after them.
    “Max can make himself look like anyone, so don’t get separated,” I shouted. “And he can somehow make himself invisible now too. Make sure to com me if you bump into something that shouldn’t be there.” It felt ludicrous even as I said it. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Jilia had said that most glitcher powers expanded as we grew into them. In a way it made sense. His power manipulated the minds of the people around him. Instead of making you see another person when you looked at him, now he could make you see nothing at all.
    We turned a corner and saw City, Xona, and Ginni sprinting toward us.
    “Stop right there!” Tyryn yelled to the approaching