By the time Armor came back, it was later into the evening. Rim had tried to message him several times to tell him about what had been announced about our mom, but he didn’t respond at all. He didn’t even know the information until he walked in through the elevator doors. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3wjQPN2sv
It was about ten o’clock when I heard the door outside. Before that I was sprawled out on the guest room bed, my amber-colored hair spiked and uneven, as I tried to meet all of my realizations at the same time. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE3iPIW2F6p
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #1: I am a teen superhero with powers that are supposedly jeopardizing the planet. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3QaxC1kY2
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #2: My father has been alive this entire time and just decided to waltz into my life now, and not when I really needed a father. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6lqi2O1xM
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #3: My mother is supposedly gone, taken by these weird creatures my long-lost-emotionally- scattered-just-met-her-today-she-threw-me-into-a-car-and-basically- kidnapped-me sister won’t tell me about. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5f1pEMAfiJ
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #4: My life must be pretty nasty if I made a whole “Blake’s Horrible Life Realization” list with more three points, and it’s even sadder that I carried it in that far. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrHWWxy8aF
“You’re new here,” a voice said from the wall. I jumped, looking around to see where the voice had come from.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nOdgzunux
“Who said that?” I asked.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZy2B73t4y
“Yes, definitely new.” I froze.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SH6fzSBmG
There it was again. I was tempted to run out of the room and find Rim, who was watching a movie about a vampire-princess romance one room over. The voice came again.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LiHZ5OonU
“Do not be alarmed. I am sorry. My name is Sicily. I was programmed into the walls of this flat when a man named Knight’s-Armor was stationed to this apartment. Are you acquainted with him?” I shifted awkwardly on the mattress.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DVlFxNcHo
“Are you talking to me?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3vG2aVg8s
“Of course, Unidentified Male Lifeform.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxVGdFBmBl
“I’m Blake,” I said, twisting my head, trying to decide which way to face the voice. The walls flickered like holograms.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jSlastNHq
“Blake. Yes. My internal scans tell me that you are composed of two-hundred human bones and about six-hundred-thirty human muscles. According to my findings in the official achievement of human intelligence, you are slightly below the average height for a boy of your current age. I collected a sample of your DNA through monitoring the saliva you spit on the left wall when telling your name, and found that you are indeed a son to Armor. Fusing family trees now. You are indeed an adolescent, and interestingly prone to major types of acne.” I sat up on my elbows.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8rGgEkgt4
“Nice to know. Yes, supposedly Armor is my father, and I’m supposedly an all-powerful teenage arc of destruction that has really become some kind of time bomb to supposedly trigger the end of the earth as we know it. Did any of your sensors tell you any of that?” There was a long pause.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWelEtQVX0
“That doesn’t compute.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX75fTGaklp
“Figures.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL697wia92p
“My sensors picked up the word “supposedly” used many times in your statement. Could my computing error happened as you might have been referring to the rare sou possum?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhxZqBNfH5
“Forget I said anything. I’m sorry about the way I snapped, I’m just really messed up inside. I don’t exactly know what’s what.” The humming in the walls grew a little louder.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJb45boL1wI
“Well, I’m an expert on what’s what. What would you like to know?” I thought for a moment.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zZjlBNcz0
“Everything?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7oe1xa0Ddv
“Well, relaying that massive request will take 1.2 eons to collect and relay,” Sicily chirped. I laid on my back.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyithPiBB2
“Well now’s a good time to start with the truth as any. Go ahead.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5Wc9zxWCc
“Sarcasm detected. Was that sarcastic?” I laughed.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGZHWv8VVw
“Sicily, you and I are going to be great friends.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvXcWipnAA
Just as I finished saying that, there were a doorbell sound and a swish. Armor was home. Instead of going out to see him, I found myself turning out the lights. Let’s just say I wasn’t completely comfortable with a new family at the moment. I wasn’t completely comfortable with a new identity either.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8Nwl7VoIc
I heard footsteps, chatter, crying? It must have been Rim, telling Armor the mysterious news. There was more talking. Arguing and silence. I heard footsteps outside my room. I quickly crawled under the covers and closed my eyes, faking sleep just as my bedroom door opened. I felt a presence there.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOW3YPyDcjj
“Oh, Blake.” That was Armor. Of course, he thought I was asleep. I was an excellent actor. More footsteps. Rim’s voice broke the silence.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzY3o0tV8zt
“I don’t want you to leave,” she said simply, her voice dipped with pain.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡicTy7Z23oA
“I’ll only be gone for a little while, sweetheart. I need to check those archives. They shouldn’t have been able to find your mom. There has to be some kind of mistake.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡME1YY2Kak3
“I heard her name, cross my heart!”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25rAnjTYZ5
“I know, cupcake. Just stay here and watch your brother.” Footsteps sounded further and further away from the door. He was leaving the room.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMoEiVbu9B
“Dad? Do you think the under-naturals will take Blake too?” The footsteps stopped.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkbxHaxq6C
“I hope not. I should never have lost him in the first place. I never want to lose him again. Only time will tell, Rim. Only time will tell.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvHoy89g7z
With that my consciousness slipped away, leading me into sleep. My dream centered around a room with a large table. It was dark, lit primarily by a crackling fireplace. Off two one side was a high-backed swivel chair. Someone was sitting in it, but I couldn’t get a good look at their face.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhZ2rpedDv
Someone opened the door. It was the boy from the gym that had tried to attack me. His features were etched in the firelight. His eyes glowed. His black hair made his eyes look darker.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPTwY8DJFs
“Sir,” he began, closing the door behind him. The chair swiveled towards his voice, the face still out of view.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKg92ZYwqQ
“What do you want?” It sneered. It was a man’s voice.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0g0mffUuf
“We found the boy,” he said sternly. The figure stood up.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4lL5JTV4j
“What?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSthQdRtZm
“We used the tracking locators and found him at the school in sector 243. We found him, Myrna and I. We tried to retrieve him, but those no good Super Naturals got to him first.” A growl escaped the dark figure.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzpSNZx3kt
“Super Naturals?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTZhmn76ja
“Yes. One was a...” He bit his lip as if he were hiding something. “A leg-natural. The other was a guardian: Lana. We could have had him easy, too. We chased them all the way to the highway and then they vanish off the scanners.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdYgoemVlb
“Let me get this straight. You alerted them of your presence, and then you let them get away!? Do you understand how important this boy is? Now they know the gist of our plans! Do you have any other horrible news to report?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRTTvDDy63
The boy was about to speak when the doors opened and a girl entered. It was the boy's accomplice from the gym. The one he called Myrna. Her black hair was arranged in a bouquet of ringlets atop her head. She was wearing a long, sleeveless white top and black pants that were cropped by pearl white boots. Her cold grey eyes were scary no matter how much makeup she put on.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdFzSIRWHV
“I’m sorry, Master. I had important errands to attend to.” She met the boy’s eyes and silent communication passed through them. She faced the tall figure.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsC7Z9Fv53F
“We got word from group 451 in a sector close to the one in which we found the boy. It seems they found a feisty little Super Natural of their own. One with a high power count. They suspect....they suspect she may be an ultra-natural as well.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0E9ser5H6L
“Did you catch the name?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXEwXFa9CU
“Taradelta. The team also failed to extract her. She was supposedly quite quick on her feet, and she had a little friend from a chest-natural known as Allen.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOre7p70ij8
“Ugh. No news is good news when it comes to your extraction teams. You have failed me again. No matter. We have recognized your failure. Both the boy and the girl are most likely at the “safe haven”, and we’ll have them by dusk tomorrow. Now get to the pods. We need to move fast.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡby4zprBZHc
The dream changed.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEvJqf9EGM
My mother was chained to a metal wall. Her head was hanging and she was breathing heavily as if she had been busy struggling from the restraints. Seeing her that way made me want to cry. Another woman was there with blue hair and vibrant eyes, holding her hands out.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXWkyZ9s2T
“Hurry, it won’t last long.” His teeth seemed to be clenched with effort. My mother looked up and her eyes met mine.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLiZnYyCW16
“Blake!”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFLZYmckPP
“Mom!” I wasn’t sure if it was an illusion or not, but I was just so relieved to see her alive. She didn’t look happy, though. Her eyes grew desperate.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2vNkC2Dwj
“Are you okay?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVzAqsfDkk
“I’m fine Mom. Where are you? What have they done to you?” Her face pinched. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNm1rL8R8p
“Blake, don’t come to get me.” I gasped so loudly it made her flinch.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSa2hYgGUr
“What!? You’re imprisoned and you expect me to sit around and do nothing? I’m coming to find you, Mom.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JWkwm0hvj
“No, you can’t. You’re the one they want, cupcake, not me. I’m only here in this place to see you get hurt. Don’t come near and you’ll be fine. I’m safe because I’m the bait. Don’t you see it? Stay away.” The blue-haired woman grunted.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzo8HHwJoRu
“I’m losing the dream connection, Lauren.” I whimpered.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepYOj16zo4
“Mom....”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJolZIUGnrf
“Blake! I don’t have much time! Stay where you are! I’ll find you!”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPcNn38ftu
And then I woke up to my sister’s scream piercing the night. I jolted awake, immediately on alert. Rim screamed again, quickly silenced, as if someone had tried to stop her. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVtWfHnbF0
“Quiet girl! You want to wake up the whole neighborhood. No, stop! Guards! Catch her! CATCH HER AND BRING HER TO ME!”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2k6J9YW9S
There was a lot of noise from the room over, as if there was a fight. I flew out of bed, a bit alarmed, not sure if this was reality, or if I was still dreaming. I was going for the door, wondering whether I should lock it or fly to Rim’s rescue, when my sister burst through, falling into me and sending us sprawling on my bed. I tried to push her off me.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLb4TWTqDl
“Ah! Get off! Rim what’s going.....” She sprang up and locked the door. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyjDwrKnUW
Then, hastily, she began to pile the few furniture items I had in the room in front of the entrance. The apparent intruders banged on the door, but it was no use. She used her back to push the items snugly against the door. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmnehRGm9z
“We’re being attacked,” she managed, her electric blue eyes wide and shining in the dark. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUaNDdadSk
Her pajamas were rumpled in a few places from the fight, and her once smooth hair was in a rats nest.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmo4LyIIZag
“You think I didn’t notice? What happened? Who’s out there?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzniGcpDArj
“It’s hard to explain. Basically they want to take us and do horrible things to us. Need to say more?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1x5oxi9oQ
“What about Sicily? Can’t she enforce the security?” Rim grunted.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkOggxiovr
“They hot-wired the system. I tried to call the authorities but I didn’t have a signal. I texted Dad and told him about the intruders, but who knows if he’ll get it in time.” 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpojCO6Gdfo
The truth came to me.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmc5iR6AoYw
There was no way out.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXPI9WMgEs
“So....we’re stuck?” She shrugged.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtcgysXAhd
“Basically.” 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Vk1O4nLip
Oh yikes. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwz9ebQCTy
“How many of them are there?” I asked, backing as far away from the door as possible. She joined me, sending me a cautious look.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfp3grSYvfp
“You can’t seriously be thinking.....”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyBsBD9kkH
“No. I have absolutely zero experience, but maybe....if some do find us or hear us.....” 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkhyoHpWwx
“Doubt it,” she remarked.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT76jyTmc8a
“Thanks for the optimism, queen sunshine. I suppose you have any ideas?” Her eyes lit up in a scary kind of way.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASempyPssw
“We can go through the fire escape.” I blinked. That was actually kind of brilliant. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWaSxLFUsM
“Great. It’s out of my window?” She nodded.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrJSwIxFYp
“Yep. There’s just one problem though.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCwZaBQr0Ce
“What’s that?”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYF2xZm8LDA
“They have the girl. The one that can do the scary weather stuff. Tara. They have her gagged and held in restraints.” 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6O69lsoOC
She bit her lip like she was going to try to break it to me we would have to leave her. Call me crazy, but I felt a surge of protectiveness for the girl. She was an ultra-natural, like me. She’d been outcast, like me. I couldn’t leave this girl behind.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbI8cDW88D
“We have to get her.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkXILhOPOM
“That’s crazy. We have no backup!” Rim protest. She was standing at the window now. I crossed my arms.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbi7CyySRYM
“She needs our help! Do you want her to get taken away too?” That got her. Her face scrunched.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyI1Hiisgs
“We’ll fail.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsMoN6MZAk
“We might fail,” I corrected, “and even if we do, we would have failed to know we tried.”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgfnnNLExU
Rim didn’t seem to approve of my reasoning. She didn’t know me that well yet. When I get started on something, there was no backing out. I made my way to the keyhole in the door and peered through. A bunch of pirate-looking guys stood around.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMB5VcpTcd4
Two of them were holding Tara between them. Her eyes were wide, and she looked a mixture of panic and anger. Her short hair was caught in some places in the cloth gag around her jaw. Suddenly she was looking at me and her eyes glinted. She was telling me to get out. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc16u04qflY
“Get them!” The tallest one said.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHuhAcnRYX
They tried sticking a variety of weapons through the keyhole. I managed to stumble away just in time. Then, they slid something through. It looked like a bug; a sort of spider that looked almost mechanical. Before I could do anything it hooked onto the doorknob and began to tinker with the mechanism.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswdDUp8Qau
“Rim...” I began, backing away from the door. I heard her gasp behind me.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQtZP4uZ7f
“We need to go. Now.” 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3NfsEjtip
I didn’t want to, but Rim pulled me by my elbow to the fire escape just as the door swung open and the intruders burst in. Then out of nowhere comes Armor. He immediately comes to our rescue, defending us without weapons.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdyrJ18XWV
His skin, as you might of guess, was as indestructible as titanium. He lifted Tara on his shoulder and made his way to us, leaving the girl with us just as a dozen police began to take the criminals away into custody. Armor nodded to them as they hauled off the men. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyvZDhHWOM
He turned to us.“Are you kids alright?” Rim nodded, a little startled. I helped untie Tara.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFIAJckzRI
“Thank you,” she said simply, though the relief was apparent on her face.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoocq9Oej5B
Her eyes were vibrant at night. I smiled and told her I didn’t do anything. Armor was shocked. I must have asked him a million times was going on.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmYbiLEIiE
“Go to bed,” he told me in a serious tone. “You need your sleep.” 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKylraBrVED
I wasn’t tired anymore. Armor headed towards his room and closed the door loudly, so it sounded more like a door slam. The sound was final and condemning. Behind me, Rim was already inviting Tara to stay with her and ushering her inside. I laid on my back, feeling lonely and clueless. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaro8gvmTmX
I wanted to know who those people were. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ724YpQp6Mu
I wanted to know why Armor was suddenly so frustrated. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKpiGVk3vE
I wanted to know what would happen to me, being so dangerous and powerful.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQk3mCu7ZGP
For now, I knew the answers weren’t going to appear on my bedroom ceiling. I didn’t even know if the answers were going to appear at all. I knew one thing...526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaroMIw830Y
I was Blake, no matter what. I was going to do something, and somehow... everything would work out. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCKlhXmNbM
I heard Rim and Tara chattering in the next room. I was surprised. Those girls are as different as night and day. Maybe they would be friends after all.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZj0NdsNkvS
“Master Blake?” A whisper. A sudden stirring of humming in the walls.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBza9qZML9
“What’s going on? My power sensors....”526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE3MQeABvlZ
“Sicily.” It made me smile to hear her voice again. “It’s okay.” 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCx2pbjU1d
I yawned and pulled the covers up to my chin. Tomorrow, I would think of a plan. I would save mom, no matter what. Tomorrow. I faced the wall where I always felt Sicily lived in. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzuIWMTzN7
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” And my eyes slipped shut. 526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweW9UzYjK6
That was my first day in Super Natropolis.
ns 15.158.61.17da2
