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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYU07SM8vD
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCE6DMi6b1
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #1: I am a teen superhero with powers that are supposedly jeopardizing the planet. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVzjEqM55O
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMdy7e0rj5
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJD6egV1Xl3
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkhXUEdLXd
“You’re new here,” a voice said from the wall. I jumped, looking around to see where the voice had come from.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1boQgUmrp
“Who said that?” I asked.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7vxevWkb6
“Yes, definitely new.” I froze.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpFpj71QCa
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFAk6I02Ig
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fZfzs1p5L
“Are you talking to me?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKJcClnOBH
“Of course, Unidentified Male Lifeform.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbkRLwfDcu
“I’m Blake,” I said, twisting my head, trying to decide which way to face the voice. The walls flickered like holograms.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfzd6sy1TN
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDB6RljiMk
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOwoqLkiW7
“That doesn’t compute.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnI4H1pjjUk
“Figures.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZ6OjoABH2
“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?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVIBOgf25p
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKOdykLgXr
“Well, I’m an expert on what’s what. What would you like to know?” I thought for a moment.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROeOlFTrxH
“Everything?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgXueLaPNV
“Well, relaying that massive request will take 1.2 eons to collect and relay,” Sicily chirped. I laid on my back.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORWcisL4RM
“Well now’s a good time to start with the truth as any. Go ahead.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevD4HGm6lb
“Sarcasm detected. Was that sarcastic?” I laughed.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuzZtY4cpx
“Sicily, you and I are going to be great friends.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphoZfFeP3U
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62SbXcaJ5L
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvd8CAH2yQS
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPaYt65D7sW
“I don’t want you to leave,” she said simply, her voice dipped with pain.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPWs0PRWN2
“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.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdp9A1yxGHY
“I heard her name, cross my heart!”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaHQgqqxd6
“I know, cupcake. Just stay here and watch your brother.” Footsteps sounded further and further away from the door. He was leaving the room.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYmF8pc6jv
“Dad? Do you think the under-naturals will take Blake too?” The footsteps stopped.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9mGXdWCkm
“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.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZXV1HALbR
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cj5sFm2hg
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7tlezFvst
“Sir,” he began, closing the door behind him. The chair swiveled towards his voice, the face still out of view.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXfw0OIdqD
“What do you want?” It sneered. It was a man’s voice.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc168pkqTV6
“We found the boy,” he said sternly. The figure stood up.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3F0A9ue1c
“What?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4I0vGABBR
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBjz2PtU51
“Super Naturals?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEyqUkBjOc
“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.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSwr7FQasK
“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?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RQSFnnbFN
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA14z8aJ6aR
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6WQZtCG6T
“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.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMePGPpFU33
“Did you catch the name?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORqJC0gd8E
“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.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CeGMrgUlf
“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.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7IcHaWJmE
The dream changed.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYAu076Ahq
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7CJUlh8Wh
“Hurry, it won’t last long.” His teeth seemed to be clenched with effort. My mother looked up and her eyes met mine.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UgCt0SulA
“Blake!”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkjXe8OlcHU
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCslpoApv8U
“Are you okay?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoVnkofH4s
“I’m fine Mom. Where are you? What have they done to you?” Her face pinched. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqiSCVRF9z
“Blake, don’t come to get me.” I gasped so loudly it made her flinch.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gXkyBq4DX
“What!? You’re imprisoned and you expect me to sit around and do nothing? I’m coming to find you, Mom.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLE1tX6G4sT
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74Fc8RiQvz
“I’m losing the dream connection, Lauren.” I whimpered.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeGElNe2Wm
“Mom....”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkkhEOY3hV
“Blake! I don’t have much time! Stay where you are! I’ll find you!”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4N7DYcqhx8
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡctqhJlG7HO
“Quiet girl! You want to wake up the whole neighborhood. No, stop! Guards! Catch her! CATCH HER AND BRING HER TO ME!”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIRZoPIy5J
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4sp8Cf42M
“Ah! Get off! Rim what’s going.....” She sprang up and locked the door. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvC2ZMlXy8
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcE9TjLFtO7
“We’re being attacked,” she managed, her electric blue eyes wide and shining in the dark. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49jDLnpkYd
Her pajamas were rumpled in a few places from the fight, and her once smooth hair was in a rats nest.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw12xdpXLgb
“You think I didn’t notice? What happened? Who’s out there?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4dCWhsH4o
“It’s hard to explain. Basically they want to take us and do horrible things to us. Need to say more?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomfKv3fLne
“What about Sicily? Can’t she enforce the security?” Rim grunted.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7eaYGRCdg1
“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.” 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhdOclB1y0j
The truth came to me.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nhgwcp07B
There was no way out.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNPzO5uFOB
“So....we’re stuck?” She shrugged.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0FdWaYnhA7
“Basically.” 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyMQh1YNLH
Oh yikes. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPm2XmRxEE9
“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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkBh7STKdQ
“You can’t seriously be thinking.....”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxYSFxpqwE
“No. I have absolutely zero experience, but maybe....if some do find us or hear us.....” 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJLP96Fl4Q
“Doubt it,” she remarked.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqNzWP7oKQ
“Thanks for the optimism, queen sunshine. I suppose you have any ideas?” Her eyes lit up in a scary kind of way.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PjQTb5EIx
“We can go through the fire escape.” I blinked. That was actually kind of brilliant. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPBckgsdQz
“Great. It’s out of my window?” She nodded.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn75FrIC8Mb
“Yep. There’s just one problem though.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwGUwJhFJ2
“What’s that?”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmJb5HTsCL
“They have the girl. The one that can do the scary weather stuff. Tara. They have her gagged and held in restraints.” 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizrfoEgkiR
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeurNLdWN9
“We have to get her.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOAJJ3OGut
“That’s crazy. We have no backup!” Rim protest. She was standing at the window now. I crossed my arms.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnSqJ459kW
“She needs our help! Do you want her to get taken away too?” That got her. Her face scrunched.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRy06v6fDbp
“We’ll fail.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQ2X1uyuzi
“We might fail,” I corrected, “and even if we do, we would have failed to know we tried.”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorBftp5fby
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5oQ8VXib9
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimoCLScZ3R
“Get them!” The tallest one said.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXGBHp0f6Q
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOQFHModdB
“Rim...” I began, backing away from the door. I heard her gasp behind me.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ149zvzpafj
“We need to go. Now.” 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuE1ficcOY
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMwN7F3Mpe
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNIg54xZCM
He turned to us.“Are you kids alright?” Rim nodded, a little startled. I helped untie Tara.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENv1e13zbG
“Thank you,” she said simply, though the relief was apparent on her face.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHiSsE7NyYW
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vOaneJwrd
“Go to bed,” he told me in a serious tone. “You need your sleep.” 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMY7WiuYUJ
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYP1eCBckFD
I wanted to know who those people were. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAlNXn73Eh
I wanted to know why Armor was suddenly so frustrated. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBgH4GWNK6
I wanted to know what would happen to me, being so dangerous and powerful.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjA7GTcNtmD
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...553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20ahWC54Y5
I was Blake, no matter what. I was going to do something, and somehow... everything would work out. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjex5R5REiQ
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZS3odVtQPZ
“Master Blake?” A whisper. A sudden stirring of humming in the walls.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQsgO1V7Wd
“What’s going on? My power sensors....”553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap3ZDbd3ET
“Sicily.” It made me smile to hear her voice again. “It’s okay.” 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRkr1vb8oB
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. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCHhE5fyTi
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” And my eyes slipped shut. 553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJ9qCKIa8v
That was my first day in Super Natropolis.
ns 15.158.61.12da2
