Loneliness.

Even as an only child, she had never felt it. She'd always had friends, and then her parents.

But now, there was no one there. Her mother was distraught and her father dead. Friends were too far out of reach; she just wanted her siblings. Was it too much to ask?

Dai was sure her brothers and sister were banned from coming within a mile of her home. She would have texted one of them – had she had a number. In all their excitement, they had forgotten to exchange numbers.

If the next generation of the human race was this forgetful, the world might just be doomed.

So Dai laid curled up in a ball on her bed, face pressed into the cushioning fabric of a pillow. The cotton fibers caught every tear, every breath as she cried. Her hair, once neatly braided by her sister, was pulled out of the twist and tangled.

All the secrets and lies were over, and all she had to show for it was her memories.

After all, you can't be a true superhuman if your abilities are deactivated.

It was two AM, but neither could sleep. The past few day's events had obviously been groundbreaking, and that left the two brothers asking themselves what was next. What was their path?

Were they really meant to save the world? To perhaps sacrifice themselves, should it come to it? Or were they meant to remain hidden, as they had been for the past fifteen years?

The thoughts left them turning.

Gael absentmindedly froze the glass of water in front of him by flicking his fingers, his head laying sidewise in the crook of his elbow. The dark wooden table he slouched on had chips, dents and splinters protruding from most angles, and the chairs weren't much better off. The dim lighting of a lantern, so they wouldn't wake up their hosts, illuminated most of the small basement.

Ever was sitting back in his own wood chair. He half-heartedly twisted a Rubick's Cube, not really caring where the colors went.

This continued for a few minutes before Ever spoke up with a sigh, placing the cube on the table. He regarded his brother with dark, troubled eyes.

"What are we going to do about Dai?"

Gael flicked his wrist a last time before he looked over at his brother with misty eyes. "I . . . I don't know. I mean, Sabrina obviously doesn't want her involved in any way. There's nothing we can do without going against her wishes."

Ever nodded sullenly. "But she'd have to at least let us see her, right? I'm sure she's . . ."

His voice trailed off as footsteps started down the wooden steps, the old fibers creaking under the weight.

Gael, not wanting to get caught, flicked off the lantern and slowed his breathing, attempting to keep quiet. Ever seemed to understand and followed the younger bionic's actions.

A ball of flame appeared in the darkness, illuminating a face framed by brown hair. "I know it's you guys. You obviously don't have a quiet bone in your body."

Ever rolled his eyes in the dim light and reached to turn back on the electronic lantern as Fania's bundle diminished. "We were whispering, so you obviously couldn't hear us. What's bothering you?"

"Dai, obviously. Same as you," Fania shivered, pulling the blanket around her shoulders tighter. "and for the record, there's no way you were whispering."

Gael cocked an eyebrow. "So you were spying on us, then?"

"No. I was in bed. Your talking woke me up."

Gael thought for a moment. "You really shouldn't have been able to hear us. That's weird."

Ever grinned. "What about us isn't weird?"

"Touche." Gael smiled before his expression sobered. How could she have heard us?

"Anyway, how are we bailing out Dai?" Fania looked expectantly at her brothers, stooping to sit on the cool cement floor.

"Bail her out? You sound like her mom's a prison guard."

"Really, though. We obviously need to see her, and I highly doubt we're going to be able to just waltz right in there."

"True, true." Ever nodded at his sister's logic. The cube was back in his hands, and he seemed to be using it as a plastic stress 'ball.' They all were lost in thought for a tense few moments, staring absently at Ever's cube.

Gael leaned back further in his chair before raising his hand, starting his previous ritual of freezing the water in his glass solid. Ever was the one who broke the intensity. "I don't know."

The cube in his hand suddenly burst under his grip. Smaller, colorful cubes scattered over the table and skittered onto the ground.

Fania's mouth dropped open at the display of strength. "How did you . . . ?"

Ever silently picked up a cube, studying it. "I have no idea,"

Gael looked thoughtful for a moment, staring absentmindedly at the frozen glass of water. Suddenly, his face broke into a grin.

"Looks like Subject E has Subject A's strength."

Janelle Dooley was not a morning person.

So much so, Fania had discovered early on in life that waking her mother was voodoo. Unless it was an emergency, Janelle remained in bed until at least eight. Then, no one was to talk to her until she had downed at least a pint of coffee.

So when she was awakened at 7:30 by her house guests, she wasn't exactly thrilled.

That is, until Ever informed her that half of the house was an oven and the other half a freezer. Immediately, she was awake and out of bed, pushing aside the clothes in her closet and pressing her hand to the blue pad on the wall.

There was a metallic hum as two capsules were lowered from a hatch in the ceiling. For once, she was glad for Leo's preparedness. Unfortunately, there were only two capsules – originally for her husband and daughter.

Finally she flung open the door to the hallway, where she was met with a face full of humid air.

Gael sat against the basement door to her left, the wood framing an icy mess. Janelle assumed Fania was to the right, in the kitchen, judging by the sounds of boiling water. The two elements met just in front of Janelle's room, creating a humid cloud of steam.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, furrowing her eyebrows and closing her eyes. "Gael," she sighed, "please get in the capsule in my room."

Said boy's face scrunched up in confusion as to why she had a capsule in her room, but he nodded and stood up, pushing past her into said room. A trail of ice followed. Janelle heard the click of a capsule door before heading down the hall way to the kitchen.

Fania sat on the tile in the kitchen, a bubble of heat surrounding her. A pot of simmering water sat at her feet, which she appeared to be attempting to harness her power into. She smiled guiltily at her mother with a little wave.

"Good morning!" she chortled. If Janelle noticed, she didn't give any sign.

"Alright, Fania." Janelle quickly tried to assess the situation despite her inner panic. "I just need to try to keep calm for a second, and wait out this glitch. Then I need you to get in the capsule in my room."

"Okay." her face scrunched up in confusion. "But why do you have a capsule in your bedroom?"

"You and your father are bionic super humans. Why wouldn't we have a couple of capsules on hand?"

"You make it sound like they're toothbrushes." Fania smirked.

Just a second later, the bubble of heat subsided. Almost immediately, Fania jumped up and ran to do as her mother had told her for once.

Janelle sighed as she heard the second capsule click shut. Life was going to be crazy again. Not that it hadn't been in the first place, but now there were three super humans running around instead of one.

Forget puberty; glitches were the new pain in the butt.

She ran a hand through her frizzy, untamed hair. The coffee maker pinged joyously, promoting its dark, hot beverage. Janelle's head fought through her two ideas – the kids, or the cup.

The cup won.

Opening the cabinet, she grabbed a mug and the sugar jar. Half a minute later, Janelle was seated at the kitchen bar checking Facebook on her tablet. That was when two holes appeared in the floor next to her. Apparently, she had forgotten about the third superhuman.

Oh, crap.

"Scoot over!"

"Me? You're the one taking up all the room!"

Fania rolled her eyes at her brother's antics. "Man up, sissies. It's not that bad!"

The boys glared at her from their shared capsule.

"Says the one with a glass box all to herself!" Gael shot back with a huff as Ever elbowed him in the stomach.

Janelle watched with an amused look on her face. She would have to get another capsule from the lab sometime – better sooner than later.

"Well," she broke the arguments, "do you guys know what all that was about with your haywire abilities?"

Ever shook his head, which resulted in knocking his head against Gael's. Gael just glared at the other boy before replying.

"No idea."

"You were glitching."

Fania stared at her mother with a mixture of shock and horror. "Like a computer? Great. Just great. I'm now like a robot." crossing her arms, she slumped defeatedly against her capsule's glass.

Her mom ignored her little pity party. "Pretty much. If you don't sleep in a capsule, or your emotions get the best of you, you glitch and your bionics go haywire."

Gael sighed. Just another thing to worry about.

"So how long do we have to stay in here for?" Fania looked pointedly at her mother.

"I'd say about twenty minutes would be good. So probably just a little while longer."

Ever groaned and leaned back, smashing Gael.

"Hey! Watch it, meat head!" he pushed the older boy off him, wrinkling his nose. "Speaking of which, Ever here busted a Rubix cube with his bare hand. Any idea as to how that happened?"

"Oh, great." Janelle moaned. Rubbing her temple, she looked at them tiredly. "Do you guys know how many abilities you have so far?"

"One."

"Two."

"One, same as shrimpy over there." Fania announced. Gael glared at the girl through the glass.

"Well, it looks like you have only discovered the first few powers. In other words, you only know your core abilities."

Fania's face lit up. "You mean I can do more?"

"Unfortunately," Gael breathed, only barely audible to Ever. The boys smirked at each other.

"Hey! I heard that!" Fania glared at her brothers, arms crossed.

Janelle pointed to her daughter. "Like that. See, I couldn't hear you guys, but she could. So Fania must have heightened senses."

Fania nodded, albeit grudgingly. "So that's why I was able to hear you last night. Makes sense. But why do I get such a boring ability?"

"It's not really that boring. For me, anyway. It just means that you can't use the excuse, 'Sorry, I didn't hear you,'" her mother grinned at her.

"Oh! This also means I was right about where Ever's strength came from last night! E has A's abilities." Gael looked rather prideful at his confirmed assumption.

Janelle nodded with a shrug. "Pretty much."

Ever glanced at the electric clock on the table. "Hey, looks like our time's up." he reached around Gael, pushing him back and letting himself out.

The younger annoyedly stepped out and glowered at Ever before stalking off into the hallway.

Fania raised an eyebrow. "Hey, where're you going?"

"To eat! I'm starving!"

Hey guys! Long time no see :) I'll make this quick.

I'm officially in public school. It's crazy. But I've made friends! :P

My fanaccount is doing pretty well! I'm going to try to post the link tomorrow on my profile :) Shout out to ereader12 for following! (I would've followed you back, but I didn't want to creep you out XD)

I posted my first shot at writing romance. I've gone to the dark side. But AoS ships make you cry. So how could I not ? XD Anyway, it'd be awesome if you'd check that out. Even if you haven't seen SHIELD, if you'd just tell me how my 'lovey-dovey' skills are, that'd be pretty awesome.

Thanks for stopping by! Goodnight!