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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdi7w2bWoi
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDZUC3bB7n
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #1: I am a teen superhero with powers that are supposedly jeopardizing the planet. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZWVFu2Guy
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6UdwsKttJ
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVedfSdKChg
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRJ4W33NJo
“You’re new here,” a voice said from the wall. I jumped, looking around to see where the voice had come from.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdzF1HBgU7
“Who said that?” I asked.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWj8MgIivTz
“Yes, definitely new.” I froze.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkpKMZznJR
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPUSU1Wvba
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMEYgpANZg
“Are you talking to me?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7t0H9pbfFK
“Of course, Unidentified Male Lifeform.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vI1PSWJ2c
“I’m Blake,” I said, twisting my head, trying to decide which way to face the voice. The walls flickered like holograms.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznf97CfQWY
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ9MXd09iWR
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESoxemU7ld
“That doesn’t compute.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGelMznbTIM
“Figures.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2vZEbAysxb
“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?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQXr1bbvEF
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTPBbo6uTp
“Well, I’m an expert on what’s what. What would you like to know?” I thought for a moment.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNSCUZuzOC
“Everything?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOC4r7x9kCf
“Well, relaying that massive request will take 1.2 eons to collect and relay,” Sicily chirped. I laid on my back.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJQaoMDCNC
“Well now’s a good time to start with the truth as any. Go ahead.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡet5dZV25H3
“Sarcasm detected. Was that sarcastic?” I laughed.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKitValXBH
“Sicily, you and I are going to be great friends.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhL3yTJoq49
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TN29NfwWh
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5fQKfEXAL
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInmUkFptSx
“I don’t want you to leave,” she said simply, her voice dipped with pain.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3AZMWUqy2
“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.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZBNEfTtao
“I heard her name, cross my heart!”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjh3wnuNTtg
“I know, cupcake. Just stay here and watch your brother.” Footsteps sounded further and further away from the door. He was leaving the room.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLvzjLMiDg
“Dad? Do you think the under-naturals will take Blake too?” The footsteps stopped.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSff1Qme03
“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.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNxbFOZejf
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3lSYAoKGt
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLKwePSR6d
“Sir,” he began, closing the door behind him. The chair swiveled towards his voice, the face still out of view.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvu6aSHej9l
“What do you want?” It sneered. It was a man’s voice.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fIfkLCRsn
“We found the boy,” he said sternly. The figure stood up.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGOD9SnyWg
“What?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzi4SMKkyBI
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGS3iluiS40
“Super Naturals?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrs70Yxgn89
“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.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrE4Br8DY62
“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?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwQb8CduXS
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3vb1EdaTT
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt1E8qZAKy
“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.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUYzixwU6Q
“Did you catch the name?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHMJGBQcvL
“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.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ujJ4lFf7c
“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.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lhZfsKwDe
The dream changed.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1xsRfFFN0
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVLbQwXxpv
“Hurry, it won’t last long.” His teeth seemed to be clenched with effort. My mother looked up and her eyes met mine.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSz2UjMckhK
“Blake!”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQKMPOgDjq
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRp6fYJE40
“Are you okay?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkc5ukUuYXz
“I’m fine Mom. Where are you? What have they done to you?” Her face pinched. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSuue1DEYA
“Blake, don’t come to get me.” I gasped so loudly it made her flinch.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJd2SLI2qeK
“What!? You’re imprisoned and you expect me to sit around and do nothing? I’m coming to find you, Mom.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukAF7jFG88
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNeJ4ytJOL
“I’m losing the dream connection, Lauren.” I whimpered.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqkDliZTWs
“Mom....”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFMPMYmOkV
“Blake! I don’t have much time! Stay where you are! I’ll find you!”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYWGEJGHWN
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xwScUy0wT
“Quiet girl! You want to wake up the whole neighborhood. No, stop! Guards! Catch her! CATCH HER AND BRING HER TO ME!”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NYBkdnXOE
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8JAyfP1Gj
“Ah! Get off! Rim what’s going.....” She sprang up and locked the door. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTY1JDV9Glj
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkkwrPnM32p
“We’re being attacked,” she managed, her electric blue eyes wide and shining in the dark. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVRcrfYQei
Her pajamas were rumpled in a few places from the fight, and her once smooth hair was in a rats nest.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluoauxmprk
“You think I didn’t notice? What happened? Who’s out there?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflHrckzkNF
“It’s hard to explain. Basically they want to take us and do horrible things to us. Need to say more?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpVHhKUz0X
“What about Sicily? Can’t she enforce the security?” Rim grunted.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrH5dpliJtT
“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.” 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZKBKdtoYb
The truth came to me.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3VtrjtwloS
There was no way out.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Js97qwH20
“So....we’re stuck?” She shrugged.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQkrIG0U0X
“Basically.” 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFgLLY6vEo
Oh yikes. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzp3jWYxkNb
“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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ215qjCxEE6
“You can’t seriously be thinking.....”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWQTi9SpHU
“No. I have absolutely zero experience, but maybe....if some do find us or hear us.....” 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4vFjm5atq
“Doubt it,” she remarked.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnB4XKFzOk
“Thanks for the optimism, queen sunshine. I suppose you have any ideas?” Her eyes lit up in a scary kind of way.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQetwBGxk8
“We can go through the fire escape.” I blinked. That was actually kind of brilliant. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYxTPhspcwJ
“Great. It’s out of my window?” She nodded.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXKCKK4avC
“Yep. There’s just one problem though.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJrHC4dkPd
“What’s that?”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvzi4Fydvx
“They have the girl. The one that can do the scary weather stuff. Tara. They have her gagged and held in restraints.” 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4ulGmSqdy
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3KpOft2G7
“We have to get her.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5U3YCBCa67
“That’s crazy. We have no backup!” Rim protest. She was standing at the window now. I crossed my arms.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IDF05coxe
“She needs our help! Do you want her to get taken away too?” That got her. Her face scrunched.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPtDN1M1VH
“We’ll fail.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cLHdEGyB7
“We might fail,” I corrected, “and even if we do, we would have failed to know we tried.”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXxjrJj2K2
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3XqPHfeeS
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWizAqDoUj
“Get them!” The tallest one said.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZz7XNc7ob6
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sB5Ev00e5
“Rim...” I began, backing away from the door. I heard her gasp behind me.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zWVj4dKPV
“We need to go. Now.” 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhS8crgtObp
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFzZM8DrLZ
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqzFhA3pjv
He turned to us.“Are you kids alright?” Rim nodded, a little startled. I helped untie Tara.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllp65lbRZL
“Thank you,” she said simply, though the relief was apparent on her face.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0r9wiceUL
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWp25Skboc
“Go to bed,” he told me in a serious tone. “You need your sleep.” 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBxqXxZIvm
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4JFbEHCsV
I wanted to know who those people were. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAzUhIXA6O
I wanted to know why Armor was suddenly so frustrated. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVHggUDwSy
I wanted to know what would happen to me, being so dangerous and powerful.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77M0mupI4U
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...514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuL4UmrnTia
I was Blake, no matter what. I was going to do something, and somehow... everything would work out. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZKzAH4JCpx
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.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSDCOnPlSW
“Master Blake?” A whisper. A sudden stirring of humming in the walls.514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeg1UmCCak
“What’s going on? My power sensors....”514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGclNdGGX2
“Sicily.” It made me smile to hear her voice again. “It’s okay.” 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkKE9Xcx5b
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. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvq0YzApElK
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” And my eyes slipped shut. 514Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOK2h3tgNg
That was my first day in Super Natropolis.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
