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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2puDG9pC2
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONQZvoF2hW
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #1: I am a teen superhero with powers that are supposedly jeopardizing the planet. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZNqfxp5bCu
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3VensSpCL
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEM1oTVahQ
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8dOG4ZFEX
“You’re new here,” a voice said from the wall. I jumped, looking around to see where the voice had come from.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFEzciclKU
“Who said that?” I asked.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgO4N5NkwpO
“Yes, definitely new.” I froze.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Xjk7mZ3i8
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcP6tJ8y97
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlV5xf3Wdup
“Are you talking to me?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SNxHNWUuY
“Of course, Unidentified Male Lifeform.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fzht2pFcG
“I’m Blake,” I said, twisting my head, trying to decide which way to face the voice. The walls flickered like holograms.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1VbK56NEF
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJfaoEin2N
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBC9Czn5NI
“That doesn’t compute.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4wCao18q4
“Figures.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs62KfjDMsd
“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?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMd4DSMZFOw
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RTIc8s8pN
“Well, I’m an expert on what’s what. What would you like to know?” I thought for a moment.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnuRDZdONF
“Everything?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87ymEzNSYa
“Well, relaying that massive request will take 1.2 eons to collect and relay,” Sicily chirped. I laid on my back.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9sdVbyfkQ
“Well now’s a good time to start with the truth as any. Go ahead.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7Ndur5lpn
“Sarcasm detected. Was that sarcastic?” I laughed.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxItdRKniZi
“Sicily, you and I are going to be great friends.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVUx6bYM37
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqsnuErBrI
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXQmMMrcRl
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWFdznL0vE
“I don’t want you to leave,” she said simply, her voice dipped with pain.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVXbfG0qLa
“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.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5ljlpHCaw
“I heard her name, cross my heart!”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzo1u8wFSN
“I know, cupcake. Just stay here and watch your brother.” Footsteps sounded further and further away from the door. He was leaving the room.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7baBsLUlr
“Dad? Do you think the under-naturals will take Blake too?” The footsteps stopped.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPLwCRy0vJ
“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.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXY3vra9nm
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDAFqEAsDS
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRS80GGkie
“Sir,” he began, closing the door behind him. The chair swiveled towards his voice, the face still out of view.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWrVxlyzdy
“What do you want?” It sneered. It was a man’s voice.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxi9unEQTn
“We found the boy,” he said sternly. The figure stood up.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5EEZHmU4s
“What?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnb2dYwy8v0
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFODbiCmuHG
“Super Naturals?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpo4WB0fIW
“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.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkr4AyIDNIf
“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?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpsM8TSpHf
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrn0pc4tXHF
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxDPJw546V
“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.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgr4DAcjHfp
“Did you catch the name?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb36Qle9LaN
“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.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwfy0MmXhY
“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.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUP1z9JWxKG
The dream changed.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXD3E1HBmcb
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGteSLmoXk
“Hurry, it won’t last long.” His teeth seemed to be clenched with effort. My mother looked up and her eyes met mine.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IWmh8wTX4
“Blake!”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRwDjf3J9c
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAAQhjbrMd
“Are you okay?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1B4qb3yfvF
“I’m fine Mom. Where are you? What have they done to you?” Her face pinched. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJinArAAWlv
“Blake, don’t come to get me.” I gasped so loudly it made her flinch.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6uafh9Vem
“What!? You’re imprisoned and you expect me to sit around and do nothing? I’m coming to find you, Mom.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQsUpCDFTJ
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgHMwIqqPM
“I’m losing the dream connection, Lauren.” I whimpered.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIrcpYd2OV
“Mom....”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbpJE4RwsX
“Blake! I don’t have much time! Stay where you are! I’ll find you!”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadw5Odqf8w
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9oNtTKlMYp
“Quiet girl! You want to wake up the whole neighborhood. No, stop! Guards! Catch her! CATCH HER AND BRING HER TO ME!”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzB9WNEiW9
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxy33y4sIU1
“Ah! Get off! Rim what’s going.....” She sprang up and locked the door. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6B0PUgQ0in
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlymPGliZ1
“We’re being attacked,” she managed, her electric blue eyes wide and shining in the dark. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1BdBDELgH
Her pajamas were rumpled in a few places from the fight, and her once smooth hair was in a rats nest.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrdH4YEm1U
“You think I didn’t notice? What happened? Who’s out there?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7nsQY0bd9
“It’s hard to explain. Basically they want to take us and do horrible things to us. Need to say more?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLADxAkCnZL
“What about Sicily? Can’t she enforce the security?” Rim grunted.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NTSpJSa8w
“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.” 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfglRGueHW
The truth came to me.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7mMNDu5En
There was no way out.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaNHDwclZd
“So....we’re stuck?” She shrugged.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyOcdO9ozV
“Basically.” 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnnd3aA3FRX
Oh yikes. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoFQt6Oq9c
“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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyT8MaSc638
“You can’t seriously be thinking.....”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFdwcx9fNX
“No. I have absolutely zero experience, but maybe....if some do find us or hear us.....” 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDXFSpjLTU
“Doubt it,” she remarked.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpH63UsqzRM
“Thanks for the optimism, queen sunshine. I suppose you have any ideas?” Her eyes lit up in a scary kind of way.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp63PjrHEMl
“We can go through the fire escape.” I blinked. That was actually kind of brilliant. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7D2fUv8ps
“Great. It’s out of my window?” She nodded.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpelvFREsww
“Yep. There’s just one problem though.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50Q131ZPFk
“What’s that?”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFD1NZMJdp
“They have the girl. The one that can do the scary weather stuff. Tara. They have her gagged and held in restraints.” 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5eIHCdVMn
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8PXq0a7pg
“We have to get her.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedk7yUp6rh
“That’s crazy. We have no backup!” Rim protest. She was standing at the window now. I crossed my arms.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBQ2LRmDrR
“She needs our help! Do you want her to get taken away too?” That got her. Her face scrunched.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNwPPW9zoO
“We’ll fail.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpK8nxjkfC
“We might fail,” I corrected, “and even if we do, we would have failed to know we tried.”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7WZbfgFoF
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmGwmMIZJo
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzw7moOwAD
“Get them!” The tallest one said.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9mJRXdBko
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlEvOigWNt
“Rim...” I began, backing away from the door. I heard her gasp behind me.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJ3vYtJ6dU
“We need to go. Now.” 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeUOCIpfG9
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjiRocTHsr
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGp65YpDuMc
He turned to us.“Are you kids alright?” Rim nodded, a little startled. I helped untie Tara.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKhbFWLkGl
“Thank you,” she said simply, though the relief was apparent on her face.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMv5cNsoeNN
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqHNuGo0Rp
“Go to bed,” he told me in a serious tone. “You need your sleep.” 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYjjq63asp
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbebvixQHcO
I wanted to know who those people were. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBj7AKegcBl
I wanted to know why Armor was suddenly so frustrated. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvSYcaYXmX
I wanted to know what would happen to me, being so dangerous and powerful.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsn58g1p4Ow
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...497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebemlW8cpx
I was Blake, no matter what. I was going to do something, and somehow... everything would work out. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdZHIDOJbe
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.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HbwLLHcbj
“Master Blake?” A whisper. A sudden stirring of humming in the walls.497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrxoYQGdt25
“What’s going on? My power sensors....”497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQNvQqqvEu
“Sicily.” It made me smile to hear her voice again. “It’s okay.” 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJ3cL8cVHy
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. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeC2n2LDQa
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” And my eyes slipped shut. 497Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eYDJJLnV5
That was my first day in Super Natropolis.
ns 15.158.61.54da2
