There are ten of them. Ten children side by side in ten test tubes. The room is dark, the only thing keeping it from being pitch black is the light from the many computers running simulations. The simulations are perfect, after all, I, Dr. Animus have invented them. But, still for some odd reason, number ten is not responding well to the experiments.

“Sir, it looks like number ten might not make it,” said Theo, my research assistant.

“No, he’ll make it, all of them will make it,” I say.

I drag myself to my main computer, sit down and begin working on the simulations again. I must’ve worked on these darn simulations like a million times but once again I will have to find a flaw so small that no one else but me will be able to detect it. But finding this flaw is absolutely necessary if I am to save number ten’s life.

I swiftly move my fingers over the keyboard and start the coding sequence. Most of this is second nature by now but I must be on the lookout at all times if I am to find a flaw. I hack away for what seems like a couple of hours when Theo interrupts me.

“Number ten is really not doing good, his body temperature is dropping rapidly!”

“Just monitor him, slow down the rejection process as much as you can. I’m close to finding the answer, I can taste it.”

Sometimes bluffing is necessary to keep people calm. Whether it be you or someone else. I have no clue what is causing number ten to act up like this but I can’t have him die on me. No, that is not an outcome I’m even willing to consider. I start half smashing the keys on the keyboard, typing faster than I’ve ever typed before. Sweat is dripping down my face but I hands are occupied elsewhere. Think! What could be the problem? What needs to be corrected? I rarely make mistakes so I don’t even know where to begin in order to search for such mistakes. But, search I must and I better do it fast.

The experiments on these ten children are at its last stage. If I can just pass this last obstacle, I am sure there will be no more problems. The road up to this point has been one filled with many complications. But I’ve survived through those so why can’t I do the same with this one? My hands are hurting at this point but I press even more furiously into the keys. I can hear the alarm sounding from number ten’s test tube. Now I am panicking, I can not fail. Where is the error? Should I just give up? Was it not meant to be? Am I not good enough?

No! If I am not good enough, then no one is! At this point, I took a deep breath and looked beyond the code. There it is, I found the answer. Number ten is a special case so I had to do that differently from the others. How did I overlook this? Whatever, let’s fix it and fast.

With fast, precise actions, I weave together several lines of code so perfect, the alarm from number ten’s test tube stops immediately. I let out a big sigh of relief, wipe the sweat off my face and take off my lab coat.

Theo comes running, “He’s stable now, what did you do sir?”

“Looked beyond what was necessary, I guess,” I say.

Scratching his head, Theo replies, “It’s good we saved him but at least it wasn’t like number one or two under attack. If we lost them, we’d have had to start all over.”

At this point, I burst out laughing, “He’s not just number ten, if we lost him just now there would’ve been no point in continuing this venture.”

“Here, you can sit here,” I say.

“Oh thank you, you sweet handsome young man,” says the old woman in the bus.

“Yeah, no problem,” I reply.

I move towards the back of the bus, trying my best to not attract attention to myself. That’s right, right now I’m on a public bus, I must act like a regular person so that no one will find out about us. At least they let us go outside and experience the real world when we’re not busy hunting down rebel groups. I understand why all this secrecy is necessary too; it’s because I’m not normal. I look normal; everything about me looks normal. But that’s the thing, I look normal but I’m not normal at all.

My code name is number ten but my real name is Jason. I look like a regular human but I’m much superior to regular humans in every possible way. My strength, intelligence, speed, vision, hearing, energy, healing and infinite other abilities are more than that of the average human. Ten times more to be exact. I am equivalent to ten human beings. Basically it’ll take at least ten people to take me down but probably more since I trained all my life to be the perfect soldier.

So what is a super soldier like myself doing in a random local transit bus? Well I’m glad you asked. I’m just so done with all these special missions that even being in a bus is so fun. My favourite pastime is riding the bus and acting like I’m normal. At least over here I won’t get shot at on sight. That’s what I was thinking as two men in hoods entered the bus. They were super tall, muscular and wore all black clothing. They had huge backpacks on; I wonder what’s inside. Actually I don’t, I don’t care. I am a regular person right now and regular people don’t think beyond what’s necessary.

But it’s second nature by now for me to be aware of danger at all times. Therefore, I can’t stop observing the two men that just entered the bus. They keep looking at each other, as if they are waiting for the right time to do something. And then it happened all at once, so fast that I’m pretty sure no one else but me knew what was happening. The two men zipped open their bags with no wasted movement and out came what looked like two fully loaded assault rifles.

I was already standing, fully ready to intercept them but dare not do so incase they fire and hit somebody out of surprise.

“Every single person here just give us all your money and we’ll leave, simple as that,” said one of them.

“You sure those are not fake?” asked a passenger and as soon as he said that my heartbeat went up ten folds.

BANG! The man dropped to the ground, lifeless in his own puddle of blood.

“No, they’re not fake, anyone else asking?”

Some lady started screaming nearby, a horrible screech. BANG! BANG! BANG! The bullets roared towards the ceiling of the bus.

“No one fucking speak, unless you want a bullet through your head.”

That shut her up real quickly. My head started throbbing as I started to think of all the possible ways I can subdue the pair. But I did nothing, absolutely nothing. It was the absolute law that us numbers can’t engage with the common public in any way that will expose our true selves. Those who made us made this law. I don’t know what the consequences are for breaking it and I don’t really want to find out. One man died; it breaks my heart but there is nothing I should do in this situation. We’ll all just obey these fuckers and they’ll leave killing no one else.

“Get in line all of you.”

People hurried and got into a single file line like a bunch of sheep. I was all the way at the back. I think people just want to get this over with so they prefer to be at the front rather than at the back. People hand over their belongings and the line moves on until a lady with a two year old looking kid gets stopped.

“I want the necklace on your neck.”

“No please this was the first gift my husband ever gave me,” said the lady.

No, no, no, no, no. Don’t these people understand?! Just give them what they want and no one else will die. Is it that hard to understand? Think about your kid for god’s sake, woman!

Just then, one of the guys began to move their gun. The gunpoint was heading downward and my heart dropped. They’re going after the kid! I know myself well enough to know that I can not live with that kid’s blood on my conscience.

I will regret this, I know I will but I zip through the line towards the front as fast as I can. About halfway there, I see the bullet leave the gun, headed straight for the kid’s head. I didn’t know I can go faster but I went faster, stretching my muscles past their limits. I’m not going to make it but I must; I was made for moments like this. The bullet is whiskers away from the kid as I jump right in front of her.

The bullet rips through my chest and digs through my muscles all the way to my heart; it buries itself there. I’m on my knees, still, trying to figure out what to do next. A handful of seconds pass.

BANG! BANG! Two more bullets dig through into me. Now it hurts, kind of.

“This psycho wasn't going down after one bullet. A couple more should do the trick,” says one of the men.

I laugh when things are actually funny, like right now, “If you want me to go down maybe put like seven more bullets in me.”

I jump to full height, knee the closer of the two men in the stomach and extend my legs to kick the one further away right in the face. I hope I used a tenth of my strength or else these two are done for good.

I smash through a side window and drop out of the bus. I hear screaming behind me but all I do is run as fast as I can away from all this.

I messed up.

I love being a researcher, believe me I do. There is always something out there I did not solve yet. The thirst for more knowledge keeps me at a state of excitement twenty four seven. I can’t remember the last time I’ve properly slept, I just doze off here and there. Humans don’t live forever, sleeping is just a waste of time. I’ve got an infinite list of theories I want to test and perfect. I’m too busy with all that but here I am, about to waste some time doing something I completely despise. It’s necessary this time around but I still completely despise it.

I’m a researcher, I like to live in my own world so why do I have to talk to other biologically living people so much? I can barely stand Theo. I keep him around because his pros outweigh his cons. Ideally that’s all the social interaction I would like to keep, please and thank you. But no, since I’m the greatest scientist to ever live, everybody keeps invading my social space. They ask me what I am currently researching. Excuse me but I am researching a million things at once and you will not be able to comprehend even a single one so why bother asking? That’s not all, people come to me whenever they’re curious about something. I know I can answer their questions but can’t they just find it out by themselves? C’mon people, where is your sense of curiosity?

That’s enough venting for today, I have an interview to get through with Alvarez. He is the host of the Alvarez show, a show where dumb people come and talk about dumb stuff. The only time this show is worth watching is when I come on and that happens pretty often. The viewers send questions to Alvarez and he makes me come every week to answer them. The questions are so ridiculous, thank god I don’t have to answer random questions today.

I’m sitting on a red sofa, I have my lab coat on, I always have it on. Sitting beside me on his own sofa is Alvarez, a tanned guy with a trimmed beard which he probably thinks looks cool. The room is disgustingly professional, everything is at its proper place and bright colour furniture is lurking everywhere. Any second now, the broadcasting will begin and I’ll have to be as professional as I can be. A slip of my tongue can mean an immediate war and anything that keeps me from my studies must never happen. There goes the beep and the broadcasting begins.

“Dr. Animus I’m so so so happy that you are here today! Just this morning something extraordinary happened and you just have to tell us what’s going on!”

I don’t have to tell you anything.

“I’m afraid I am not sure what you are referring to,” I say.

“Don’t worry, I have a video, viewers please don’t let your children see the following video that’s about to be played.”

Obviously I know what the video is about but it’s better for this clown to bring it up rather than me.

The video starts playing. I see Jason moving at an abnormal pace, taking three bullets straight to his heart, kneeing one guy and kicking another square in the face all in a matter of seconds.

“Just what is this Animus! Are they shooting a new superhero movie? Who is this new young actor? What’s his super powers? How old is this boy? It looks so real, don’t tell me it’s actually real? He’s so good at fighting! Oh my god, there’s blood everywhere! Are the superhumans back? Wait, if you look at it this way…,” Alvarez continued.

Fuck this guy.

“Isn’t the host supposed to give their guests a chance to speak too?” I intrude.

“Oh sorry sorry, I was just so into it I forgot you were there. Now please explain this doctor,” Alvarez demanded.

I sigh and take a deep breath.

“I suppose it is time to tell the public the truth. We have kept you in the dark for so long for your own safety. I am immensely pleased to introduce the numbers to all of you. The nation of Amphibia, through my work have been successful in creating ten super...:,” I was saying when Alvarez butts in.

“But wait wait, why did you create the numbers again. It’s great and all that they’re super strong but did you forget what happened last time? Last time, it was…”

“SILENCE! Even if you are a respected talk show host don’t think you will get a free pass if you talk about that incident! It is the law in Amphibia that one shall not mention that incident and if one breaks this oath, they will be punishable by death!”

Calm down, I can’t be raising my voice like this.

“Now, allow me to continue. The numbers are completely stable and I emphasize stable superhumans Amphibia has created to protect our nation from all the rebel groups forming in other nations. Amphibia is the most technologically advanced and prosperous nation in the world. No other nation is comparable to Amphibia. This has lead to rebel groups forming in almost all other nations, their goal is to take down Amphibia. Instead of asking kindly for some of our support or resources, this is how they repay us. The ten numbers have been working undercover for around a decade and a half now. They help keep this world from becoming a ball of chaos. Rest assured that Amphibia will not fall as long as we have the numbers. That is all, I will hear no more questions today, stop the broadcast,” I finish.

A beep signals the end of the broadcast. Before I leave, I stare straight into Alvarez’s pitch black eyes.

“What happened once, shall not happen again. We don’t need another lost generation.”