Introduction
"Once upon a time, in a distant land not far from—"
"Hey, cut that crap. This ain't a love story or some children's fairytales."
No, this is the story of how me and my boys became the greatest superheroes in history. You might think this is one of those cliché stories where we're born with powers or something, but nah—ours? Pure accident. Yeah, yeah, I know you've heard that a million times already. Don't worry—I did my research. But this story? It's different.
Oh, before I get ahead of myself—the name's Uche. And yeah, before you ask, I share the name of the writer. Weird, right? But forget about that no who knows, maybe there's some character that bridges both the fictional and non-fictional worlds. But hey, that's a story for another day.
For now, everything started with me and my six lackeys—well, my guys—on an ordinary day that turned out to be anything but ordinary.
---
Chapter 1
Monday morning. 4 a.m.
I woke up feeling like I had barely closed my eyes. Typical. I mean, who actually enjoys Mondays? Especially school Mondays. But hey, that's life. I figured I'd speed-run through the day—how bad could it be, right?
Dragging myself out of bed, body still half-asleep like I was carrying Mount Everest, I stumbled to the bathroom. Teeth brushed—gotta keep the smile sparkling for the ladies—and after a quick bath, I threw on my school uniform. My room? Eh, I cleaned it just enough so no one could complain.
Bag packed—assignments done and dusted—I made my way to the dining room. Now, in those fancy movies, breakfast means pancakes, bacon, and fresh orange juice. But in Nigeria? It's rice and stew, no question. And let's be honest—when it's mama's cooking, who's complaining?
By 5:45 a.m., my sister and I were outside, waiting for the school bus. In Abuja, these buses come early—too early, like you're traveling to another state. When the bus finally pulled up, I felt a mix of relief and sleepiness. I climbed in, took the front seat—my usual spot—and planned to recharge my mind, body, and soul with some sweet sleep.
Just as I was drifting off, the last person boarded—John, along with his siblings. With the whole crew in, we rolled toward school. Another day, another struggle—or so I thought.
---
Chapter 2
At the school gate, we went through the usual routine—wash hands, sanitize, the whole thing. As I finished up, John leaned over.
"Guy, you do that assignment?"
I smirked. "Finished it last night, no stress."
By the way, we're in SS3—the final boss level of secondary school. Walk into the wrong class unprepared, and it's game over.
Inside, Emmanuel was already chilling with some of the early-arriving girls. I slumped into my chair and prayed—literally prayed—for the day to fly by. Around 7:35 a.m., Ja'afar and Victor showed up, followed shortly by Atani and Yusuf.
We all gathered at the physics lab—because, of course, there were last-minute assignments to finish. Discussions drifted between games and football until the assembly bell rang.
Now, assemblies in Nigerian schools? A whole event. First came the opening prayer, then praise and worship. Me and the boys stuck to the safest dance—the church special:
"Slide to the left—clap. Slide to the right—clap."
Efficient. No stress. No embarrassing moves. Just stay low-key.
Bible reading followed, along with the theme of the week—some motivational talk to keep us in check. Finally, we wrapped up with the National Anthem and the School Anthem before marching off to our classes.
---
Chapter 3
First period? Mathematics—a universal nightmare. I'm convinced 90% of students lose sleep over math. But hey, we survived.
Fast forward through the day to chemistry class, where things got…interesting.
Our teacher, Miss Stella, dropped a bomb on us. "Your group project? Create a new chemical formula."
"My guy—why?!" I wanted to scream. This is Nigeria, not some cutting-edge lab in the U.S.
And just to spice things up, she divided us by gender—seven boys against thirteen girls. Fair, right?
After class, I gathered the guys in the physics lab for a strategy meeting. They weren't exactly thrilled, so I pitched an idea:
"Let's stay after school on Friday and just figure it out then."
Surprisingly, they agreed. And so, we waited for Friday to roll around.
---
When Friday finally arrived, we planned to meet at 6 p.m. sharp. John—being the closest to school—was the first to arrive. Atani dragged in last, as usual.
As we snuck back into the school building after hours, something weird happened. I bumped into…someone.
I couldn't tell who it was—school had been closed for hours. A new teacher? A staff member? No clue.
"Uche! You coming or what?" John called, pulling me back to reality.
Shaking off the weird feeling, I joined the guys, grabbing lab coats as we stepped into the dimly lit chemistry lab.
"Alright," I said, cracking my knuckles. "Let's cook up something epic."
We started simple—mixing hydrogen and oxygen like amateurs. But none of us could've predicted what was coming next.
And just like that, everything changed
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Chapter 4 – The Accident
The chemistry lab was eerily quiet, except for the hum of the old ceiling fan barely doing its job. The air smelled like chalk, antiseptic, and that faint metallic tang of chemicals.
"Okay, guys," I said, tightening my lab coat. "Hydrogen plus oxygen—what could go wrong?"
"Famous last words," Ja'afar muttered, already side-eyeing the mess we were about to create.
Atani rolled his eyes. "Relax. What's the worst that can happen? Explosion?"
"Exactly," I shot back. "So, let's not blow up the school. My mother will actually kill me if I disgrace the family name like that."
We laughed, but deep down, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was…off. Maybe it was the stranger I bumped into earlier. Maybe it was the way the fluorescent lights flickered like a bad horror movie.
Or maybe it was the weird metal case tucked in the corner of the lab—one I swear I'd never seen before.
---
"Pass me the test tube," I said, focusing on the task at hand.
John handed it over, looking bored already. "This better work, or I'm telling Miss Stella to fail you personally."
I laughed, but when I reached for the metal case, something inside me hesitated. The case wasn't labeled—not even a scratch. And in a Nigerian school? That's weird. Everything is usually worn-out, marked with a teacher's initials, or straight-up broken.
Curiosity got the better of me. I popped it open.
Inside were three vials—each filled with a strange, glowing liquid. One was crimson red, another electric blue, and the last one…well, I'm still not sure what color it was. It seemed to shift, like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be.
"Guys, check this out," I said, holding up the vials.
Victor raised an eyebrow. "Is that even safe? This is Nigeria o. I'm not trying to become a science experiment."
Yusuf leaned in closer, eyes gleaming with interest. "Maybe it's some prototype formula. What if we use it in our project?"
Emmanuel, ever the practical one, shook his head. "Or what if it kills us?"
---
I should've listened to Emmanuel.
But no—because when you're seventeen, making good decisions isn't exactly a priority.
"Only one way to find out," I said, pouring a drop of the shifting vial into the hydrogen-oxygen mix.
At first, nothing happened. Then—BOOM.
The test tube shattered, sending shards flying everywhere. A thick, shimmering smoke filled the air. I stumbled backward, coughing hard, while the others scrambled to avoid the fallout.
And that's when the weird stuff began.
---
Chapter 5 – Powers Ain't Free
I don't remember blacking out, but when I came to, the lab was in chaos. The glass was melted—melted—and the air felt…heavy. Like something new had been let loose.
I blinked hard and looked around. John was the first to groan, shaking broken glass from his hair.
"Uche…" his voice was shaky. "What the hell did we just do?"
I tried to stand up, but my legs felt weird. Stronger. Lighter. As if my body wasn't…mine anymore.
Then it hit me—literally.
I reached out to grab the edge of a table to pull myself up. The table? It snapped like it was made of cardboard.
"What the—?"
Atani's jaw dropped. "Did you…just break that? With one hand?"
"I didn't mean to!" My voice came out louder—too loud—like my body wasn't used to itself anymore.
That's when I realized the others were acting strange too. Ja'afar's hands were flickering—like he was phasing in and out of reality. Yusuf stood in the corner, his body surrounded by tiny sparks of electricity. And Emmanuel? He was staring at the ground, except the ground was…cracking beneath his feet.
We didn't just survive the explosion.
We changed.
---
Chapter 6 – What Comes Next
We got out of the lab before anyone caught us. Barely.
As we stood outside under the dim school lights, the air felt charged—like something bigger was happening. Something we couldn't take back.
Victor rubbed his temples. "Okay, so…we accidentally gave ourselves powers. What now?"
I let out a deep breath, my heart still racing. "We keep this quiet. Nobody else needs to know."
John smirked. "You mean, until we figure out how to stop accidentally destroying stuff?"
I nodded. "Exactly."
But deep down, I knew it wasn't going to be that simple. You don't just walk away from something like this. And whatever those vials were…they weren't meant for us.
And if someone realized we had them?
Well…things were about to get a whole lot crazier.
---
Chapter 7 – Enter the Shadow
That weekend, I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt…different. Stronger. Faster. Like there was an energy inside me waiting to explode.
But the strangest part? I kept seeing the man I bumped into that night. The way he appeared out of nowhere. The way he didn't seem surprised to see us sneaking in.
Who was he?
And more importantly—what did he want?
---
Chapter 8 – The Aftermath
By Monday morning, nothing felt normal anymore.
The vials may have been long gone—reduced to molten glass—but whatever was inside them? That stuff was now inside us.
I knew something had changed when I stretched my hand toward my alarm clock—and instead of just turning it off, I somehow froze it mid-air. Time itself just…stopped. The seconds on the clock didn't move. My breath echoed weirdly, like I had stepped out of reality for a moment.
"Nah…this can't be real."
But it was.
And I wasn't the only one struggling.
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At School
By the time I got to school, I could already feel my body buzzing with a new kind of energy—like the world had slowed down, and I was moving faster than everything else.
I spotted Ja'afar first, leaning against the school gate. He looked tense, his eyes flickering in every direction like he expected someone to jump out.
"You okay?" I asked.
He exhaled sharply. "Dude, I teleported to the kitchen last night by accident. My mom nearly fainted."
I laughed. "At least you didn't break your bed. I stretched and somehow bent my wall."
Before we could say more, Yusuf zoomed past us—literally. A blur of motion. He stopped a few meters away, panting slightly, like he was still getting used to super speed.
"I ran to school in three minutes," he grinned. "Who needs the bus anymore?"
---
In class, things got even weirder.
John sat at his desk, casually reshaping his pencil like it was playdough—turning wood into metal, then back again. Victor, on the other hand, was sitting in the corner glowing faintly, trying not to accidentally set his chair on fire.
And Daniel? He was in the back, his fingers glowing with weird purple symbols. I'm pretty sure he could summon something if he wanted to.
Only Emmanuel seemed calm—too calm. He was scrolling through his phone, but I noticed the screen flicker every time he touched it, like he was controlling it with his mind.
---
"Alright, guys," I said quietly as our math teacher walked in. "We need to talk—after school. Physics lab."
They all nodded. Whatever was happening to us? It wasn't going away. And sooner or later, someone else would notice.
Chapter 9 – The Stranger Returns
After classes, we slipped back to the physics lab. This time, we weren't here to mess around. We needed answers.
"Alright," I said, looking around the group. "We got powers. We need to figure out how they work—and what's going on."
"No kidding," Victor muttered. "I almost blew up my bathroom this morning."
John flexed his hand, forming a solid iron ball out of thin air. "Yeah, and how did those vials even get here?"
Before I could respond, the lights flickered—and the air suddenly felt…heavy.
Someone else was here.
---
"You're handling it better than I thought," a voice said.
We spun around. Standing by the lab door was him—the mysterious stranger I bumped into the other night. He was tall, with dark sunglasses and a long black coat that seemed to ripple even though there was no wind.
"Who are you?" I demanded, stepping forward.
He smiled faintly. "I'm someone who watches things from the shadows. And you? You've gotten yourselves tangled in something far bigger than you realize."
Ja'afar narrowed his eyes. "And those vials? What were they?"
The stranger tilted his head. "Prototypes. Not meant for ordinary people—but you aren't ordinary anymore."
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Chapter 10 – The Truth About the Vials
"You six were never supposed to find them," he continued, stepping closer. "Those vials contained the essence of primordial forces—fragments of powers that shape reality itself."
I felt my stomach twist. "You mean…we're walking time bombs?"
The stranger chuckled softly. "Not quite. But those powers don't come without consequences. The more you use them, the more you attract attention—from people who will want to take them from you."
Daniel folded his arms. "So, what? You came to warn us?"
His smile faded. "I came to prepare you. Because soon…they'll come."
---
Chapter 11 – A New Threat
Before we could ask more, a sudden boom echoed from outside. The ground trembled beneath our feet.
"What was that?!" Yusuf blurted, already halfway to the door.
The stranger's face hardened. "They're here."
"Who?" I demanded.
He adjusted his sunglasses. "The ones who want those powers back. And if you're not ready…they will take everything from you."
I exchanged glances with the others.
Whatever quiet life we thought we had?
It was over.
---
Chapter 12 – The Battle Begins
The ground trembled again. This time, the walls cracked under the pressure.
"Brace yourselves," the stranger warned. "They're already here."
Without another word, he vanished—just like that.
The lights flickered—then shattered, plunging the lab into darkness.
BOOM!
The roof split open as three figures dropped through the debris. Each one of them radiated an unnatural aura, like reality itself bent around them.
One of them—a tall girl with glowing white eyes—grinned. "Well, well. The little thieves who stole our vials."
---
Uche Takes Charge
I felt a power hum beneath my skin—space, time, energy—all of it ready to explode. But I knew we couldn't afford to lose control.
"Stick together," I ordered, stepping forward. "We take them down as a team."
Without question, the others fell in line. It felt…natural. Like this was what I was meant to do.
The girl raised her hand. "Let's see if you're worth the trouble."
---
The Fight for Survival
The air ripped open as she fired a beam of pure energy toward us.
"Not today!" Daniel shouted, weaving a glowing chaos sigil in the air. The beam hit his magic barrier and exploded into a thousand sparks.
Ja'afar vanished in a blink, reappearing behind their second attacker—a huge guy with molten-red fists—and sent him flying with a telekinetic blast.
Meanwhile, Yusuf darted through the chaos like a blur, landing rapid punches faster than the eye could follow.
I reached out with my powers, bending the space around our enemies—slowing them, freezing their attacks mid-air.
But they were strong, and we were still learning.
---
Victor Unleashes His Power
When the third enemy—a woman with ice powers—tried to freeze the lab solid, Victor stepped forward. His body ignited with blazing energy as he punched the ground.
"Not on my watch!"
A wave of fire and cosmic energy erupted, melting the ice in seconds.
John followed up, transforming metal fragments from the broken lab into a storm of blades that forced their enemies to retreat.
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The Turning Point
Just when it seemed like the battle would never end, Emmanuel tapped into the school's tech systems, overriding the emergency power grid.
"Uche—now!" he shouted.
I felt everything lock into place. Space bent to my will. With a wave of my hand, I crushed gravity around our enemies, pinning them to the floor.
The battle was over.
---
Chapter 13 – A New Beginning
By the time the dust settled, the stranger reappeared—just as mysterious as ever.
"You did well," he said, his voice calm. "But this is only the beginning."
He tossed a small holographic device onto the table. It flickered to life, revealing Nimbus 7—a sprawling base suspended high above the clouds, its sleek architecture gleaming against the endless sky. Hovercraft zipped between towering spires, while lightning danced along energy conduits powering the advanced tech within.
"You need training. Real training."
We exchanged glances—none of us arguing. We barely survived this time. Next time? We might not be so lucky.
"One more thing," the stranger added, turning to me. "You're the leader now. Keep them alive."
The weight of it hit me, but I nodded. "I got this."
---
Chapter 14 – The Backbenchers
The news hit the world fast. The school explosion. The mysterious battle.
When reporters swarmed us outside the rubble, cameras flashing, one of them asked the golden question:
"Who are you?"
Before I could answer, Yusuf blurted out with a grin—
"We're the Backbenchers!"
I groaned, but it was too late. The name stuck.
---
Chapter 15 – The Power Surge
What we didn't know—what no one could've known—was that the accident didn't just affect us.
It affected the entire world.
From New York to Tokyo, London to Lagos, strange phenomena began to emerge. People—ordinary people—were waking up with extraordinary abilities. Some could lift cars with ease. Others could bend elements, walk through walls, or manipulate minds.
Governments scrambled to contain the chaos. News channels were flooded with stories of people gaining superpowers overnight. Some embraced their new gifts—becoming heroes in their communities. But others?
Others became monsters.
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A New World Order
In Paris, a woman with the power to freeze time robbed three major banks in under ten minutes—and vanished without a trace.
In Mumbai, a teenage boy accidentally caused an earthquake when his powers awakened during class.
And in Abuja, a man calling himself The Prime declared himself the first global ruler, effortlessly taking control of half the city with his reality-warping abilities.
"We broke the world," I muttered, watching the news reports flood in.
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The Rise of Power Factions
As days turned into weeks, those with powers began forming factions—some seeking order, others craving chaos.
1. The Vanguard – A global task force formed by the United Nations to track and contain rogue power users. They were powerful—but already struggling to keep up.
2. The Apex Syndicate – A shadowy organization gathering the strongest and most dangerous power users. Rumors said they wanted to reshape the world—by any means necessary.
3. The Ghost Collective – A group of anonymous vigilantes who strike from the shadows, exposing government secrets and protecting power users from persecution.
And those were just the ones we knew about.
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The Backbenchers' Mission
In our new underground base, the stranger—still refusing to give his name—stood before us.
"You started this," he said bluntly. "Now you're responsible for fixing it."
I wanted to argue. We didn't ask for this. We didn't plan for the whole world to go crazy.
But deep down, I knew he was right.
"What's the plan?" I asked.
He tossed us a glowing holographic map, highlighting power surges across the globe.
"You train. You fight. You keep this world from tearing itself apart."
---
A Leader's Burden
I felt the weight settle on my shoulders. Being a leader wasn't just about the team anymore—it was about everyone.
I looked at my friends—Ja'afar, Victor, John, Daniel, Yusuf, and Emmanuel. We didn't ask for this, but we weren't about to run either.
"We're the Backbenchers," I said, standing tall. "And we're just getting started."
And somewhere, hidden in the shadows, The Prime smiled—because he knew that the true battle for the world's future…was only the beginning.
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To Be Continued