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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡot63D5hv0c
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Dn0zJg409
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #1: I am a teen superhero with powers that are supposedly jeopardizing the planet. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyVvhylBuW
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJntsucUDxq
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLI0VVUbTm
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAuosLXWnos
“You’re new here,” a voice said from the wall. I jumped, looking around to see where the voice had come from.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTU9Fm9WOe
“Who said that?” I asked.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLh5Ud4VAB
“Yes, definitely new.” I froze.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjAWZE8VGG
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡao9VhQYxKF
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD394C4h71h
“Are you talking to me?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdZeBIpHIq
“Of course, Unidentified Male Lifeform.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCiXb0JnGZ
“I’m Blake,” I said, twisting my head, trying to decide which way to face the voice. The walls flickered like holograms.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FOfBbTtnn
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknMmAP5tEv
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHbOFUTuFA
“That doesn’t compute.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3oJXLWnns
“Figures.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7g6UXKmPvd
“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?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3fWZFV3NQ
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpPaKxz9aP
“Well, I’m an expert on what’s what. What would you like to know?” I thought for a moment.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeYOrUg9wX
“Everything?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlOSJyV5Rx
“Well, relaying that massive request will take 1.2 eons to collect and relay,” Sicily chirped. I laid on my back.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFM6OHDNtVr
“Well now’s a good time to start with the truth as any. Go ahead.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6ZQiqJ2xU
“Sarcasm detected. Was that sarcastic?” I laughed.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5efVUf63x9
“Sicily, you and I are going to be great friends.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lCcHGQOpr
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSAMz2lDAM
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rU5SSdx51
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBbNQDSUCl7
“I don’t want you to leave,” she said simply, her voice dipped with pain.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxzCV6TOCC
“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.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1PDhLZIdN
“I heard her name, cross my heart!”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5xp52jiFU
“I know, cupcake. Just stay here and watch your brother.” Footsteps sounded further and further away from the door. He was leaving the room.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRmV3tiQDT
“Dad? Do you think the under-naturals will take Blake too?” The footsteps stopped.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24M6G8YSnT
“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.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXO66FPGVq
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6b7yZhauei
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0c4n1mXtLF
“Sir,” he began, closing the door behind him. The chair swiveled towards his voice, the face still out of view.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhj9yyzNQb
“What do you want?” It sneered. It was a man’s voice.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKo8Eg1LE1S
“We found the boy,” he said sternly. The figure stood up.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65x7N0nYFz
“What?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvWIWu2QuR
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKHn3rwBfr
“Super Naturals?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbOU5JKi4i
“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.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrHzra2bdw
“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?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxI18809dM
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ctBATRnER
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsjm9K8hHJ
“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.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyG2wkSrHoq
“Did you catch the name?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGujQ3PkY2b
“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.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ667Rz73BnW
“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.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaydiFCHVfC
The dream changed.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14DhETFV5s
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzJ4USqxS3
“Hurry, it won’t last long.” His teeth seemed to be clenched with effort. My mother looked up and her eyes met mine.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6be2oARSM
“Blake!”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqcUrHD2Aj
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlt9dEVrq1
“Are you okay?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡacmJkQQRjH
“I’m fine Mom. Where are you? What have they done to you?” Her face pinched. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1sRWK2V5g
“Blake, don’t come to get me.” I gasped so loudly it made her flinch.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFofKbRk3J
“What!? You’re imprisoned and you expect me to sit around and do nothing? I’m coming to find you, Mom.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡji0JZrX2TD
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAFg4Bismm
“I’m losing the dream connection, Lauren.” I whimpered.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVH70WQukw
“Mom....”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpD3qECrP9
“Blake! I don’t have much time! Stay where you are! I’ll find you!”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYgcbhjMCu
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrLUslgZuh
“Quiet girl! You want to wake up the whole neighborhood. No, stop! Guards! Catch her! CATCH HER AND BRING HER TO ME!”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABkekZHXpV
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxhkQ2voMI
“Ah! Get off! Rim what’s going.....” She sprang up and locked the door. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5SQI61Qod
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4zwMKOqBZ
“We’re being attacked,” she managed, her electric blue eyes wide and shining in the dark. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHUS5uWbRt
Her pajamas were rumpled in a few places from the fight, and her once smooth hair was in a rats nest.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18D4F4FZ39
“You think I didn’t notice? What happened? Who’s out there?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKp2QKRNr6
“It’s hard to explain. Basically they want to take us and do horrible things to us. Need to say more?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZLBci4tLL
“What about Sicily? Can’t she enforce the security?” Rim grunted.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZ5jOkbWym
“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.” 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSa31ZAAgl6
The truth came to me.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcM4U8WaEK
There was no way out.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqewG3vWsp
“So....we’re stuck?” She shrugged.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKhcyQfDd1
“Basically.” 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5IxNxXLKI
Oh yikes. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlLckucbK5
“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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wqLlqHHrP
“You can’t seriously be thinking.....”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDdpoZaQoU
“No. I have absolutely zero experience, but maybe....if some do find us or hear us.....” 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrZmNMqjj5
“Doubt it,” she remarked.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCrIlg4nUG
“Thanks for the optimism, queen sunshine. I suppose you have any ideas?” Her eyes lit up in a scary kind of way.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsnknXHzuE
“We can go through the fire escape.” I blinked. That was actually kind of brilliant. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18ellYj6ZG
“Great. It’s out of my window?” She nodded.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSvikWL2oW
“Yep. There’s just one problem though.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQCHLwEqJM
“What’s that?”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBICFr7Y2JL
“They have the girl. The one that can do the scary weather stuff. Tara. They have her gagged and held in restraints.” 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHkfNIf1bR
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqR7ky4uhYR
“We have to get her.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPijP34zlCP
“That’s crazy. We have no backup!” Rim protest. She was standing at the window now. I crossed my arms.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbcb3t8b2e
“She needs our help! Do you want her to get taken away too?” That got her. Her face scrunched.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqki0VIHCA
“We’ll fail.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEohcUlIAe
“We might fail,” I corrected, “and even if we do, we would have failed to know we tried.”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEO2U4yUj3U
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA4TMVRZsEJ
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YW8QTNTfz
“Get them!” The tallest one said.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIBwRe7iqV
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyQlGcFBSm
“Rim...” I began, backing away from the door. I heard her gasp behind me.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXprMsNvBQg
“We need to go. Now.” 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXnSZM2tvi
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPJ0HbYe1E
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcA2pTuo63V
He turned to us.“Are you kids alright?” Rim nodded, a little startled. I helped untie Tara.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrNN3knIXH
“Thank you,” she said simply, though the relief was apparent on her face.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPoGpnT6ZV
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkA1CT7lkZ
“Go to bed,” he told me in a serious tone. “You need your sleep.” 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81Ooy6bE4E
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOtFeSlKcy
I wanted to know who those people were. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKgSCtvrMh
I wanted to know why Armor was suddenly so frustrated. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSqPrpplef
I wanted to know what would happen to me, being so dangerous and powerful.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEQQmqMeCr
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...673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHbGUIlqhH
I was Blake, no matter what. I was going to do something, and somehow... everything would work out. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQOyoDCKrA
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.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3x8fIVeIt
“Master Blake?” A whisper. A sudden stirring of humming in the walls.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpt5tL7QOfJ
“What’s going on? My power sensors....”673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4105QgLzm
“Sicily.” It made me smile to hear her voice again. “It’s okay.” 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovU4dxuELv
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. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQwDzb5BsS
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” And my eyes slipped shut. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4hKkfS9ms
That was my first day in Super Natropolis.
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